Marcus Annius Verus (name at birth,[1][2] or upon the death of his father and adoption by his grandfather, or upon coming of age[3])Marcus Annius Catilius Severus (name at birth,[3] or for some period of his youth[2])Marcus Catilius Severus Annius Verus (name at birth[4])Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus (upon adoption by Antoninus Pius[5])Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar (as imperial heir)Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (upon joint ascension, with Lucius Verus, to the throne[4])

He was a practitioner of Stoicism, and his untitled writing, commonly known as Meditations, is a significant source of the modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy, it is considered by many commentators to be one of the greatest works of philosophy.[10]

The major sources depicting the life and rule of Marcus Aurelius are patchy and frequently unreliable, the most important group of sources, the biographies contained in the Historia Augusta, claim to be written by a group of authors at the turn of the 4th century AD, but are in fact written by a single author (referred to here as "the biographer") from the later 4th century (c. 395 AD).[12]

The later biographies and the biographies of subordinate emperors and usurpers are a tissue of lies and fiction, but the earlier biographies, derived primarily from now-lost earlier sources (Marius Maximus or Ignotus), are much more accurate,[12] for Marcus' life and rule, the biographies of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus and Lucius Verus are largely reliable, but those of Aelius Verus and Avidius Cassius are full of fiction.[13]

A body of correspondence between Marcus' tutor Fronto and various Antonine officials survives in a series of patchy manuscripts, covering the period from c. 138 to 166.[14] Marcus' own Meditations offer a window on his inner life, but are largely undateable, and make few specific references to worldly affairs,[15] the main narrative source for the period is Cassius Dio, a Greek senator from BithynianNicaea who wrote a history of Rome from its founding to 229 in eighty books. Dio is vital for the military history of the period, but his senatorial prejudices and strong opposition to imperial expansion obscure his perspective.[16]

Lucilla was the daughter of the patrician P. Calvisius Tullus Ruso and the elder Domitia Lucilla, the elder Domitia Lucilla had inherited a great fortune (described at length in one of Pliny's letters) from her maternal grandfather and her paternal grandfather by adoption.[23] The younger Lucilla would acquire much of her mother's wealth, including a large brickworks on the outskirts of Rome—a profitable enterprise in an era when the city was experiencing a construction boom.[24]

Lucilla and Verus (III) had two children: a son, Marcus, born on 26 April 121 AD, and a daughter, Annia Cornificia Faustina, probably born in 122 or 123 AD.[26] Verus (III) probably died in 124 AD, during his praetorship, when Marcus was only three years old.[27][notes 3] Though he can hardly have known him, Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations that he had learned "modesty and manliness" from his memories of his father and from the man's posthumous reputation.[29] Lucilla did not remarry.[27]

Lucilla, following prevailing aristocratic customs, probably did not spend much time with her son. Marcus was in the care of "nurses".[30] Even so, Marcus credits his mother with teaching him "religious piety, simplicity in diet" and how to avoid "the ways of the rich";[31] in his letters, Marcus makes frequent and affectionate reference to her; he was grateful that, "although she was fated to die young, yet she spent her last years with me".[32]

After his father's death, Aurelius was raised by his paternal grandfather Marcus Annius Verus who, according to Roman Law, had always retained the "patria potestas" over his son and grandson. Technically this was not an adoption, since an adoption would be the legal creation of a new and different "patria potestas" (II).[33] Another man, Lucius Catilius Severus, also participated in his upbringing. Severus is described as Marcus' "maternal great-grandfather"; he is probably the stepfather of the elder Lucilla.[33] Marcus was raised in his parents' home on the Caelian Hill, a district he would affectionately refer to as "my Caelian".[34]

It was an upscale region, with few public buildings but many aristocratic villas. Marcus' grandfather owned his own palace beside the Lateran, where Marcus would spend much of his childhood.[35] Marcus thanks his grandfather for teaching him "good character and avoidance of bad temper",[36] he was less fond of the mistress his grandfather took and lived with after the death of Rupilia Faustina, his wife.[37] Marcus was grateful that he did not have to live with her longer than he did.[38]

Marcus was taught at home, in line with contemporary aristocratic trends;[39] Marcus thanks Catilius Severus for encouraging him to avoid public schools.[40] One of his teachers, Diognetus, a painting-master, proved particularly influential; he seems to have introduced Marcus to the philosophic way of life.[41] In April 132, at the behest of Diognetus, Marcus took up the dress and habits of the philosopher: he studied while wearing a rough Greek cloak, and would sleep on the ground until his mother convinced him to sleep on a bed.[42]

A new set of tutors—Alexander of Cotiaeum, Trosius Aper and Tuticius Proculus[notes 4]—took over Marcus' education in about 132 or 133.[44] Little is known of the latter two (both teachers of Latin), but Alexander was a major littérateur, the leading Homeric scholar of his day.[45] Marcus thanks Alexander for his training in literary styling.[46] Alexander's influence—an emphasis on matter over style, on careful wording, with the occasional Homeric quotation—has been detected in Marcus' Meditations.[47]

In late 136, Hadrian almost died from a haemorrhage. Convalescent in his villa at Tivoli, he selected Lucius Ceionius Commodus, Marcus' intended father-in-law, as his successor and adopted him as his son,[48] the selection was done invitis omnibus, "against the wishes of everyone".[49] While there will never be absolute certainty regarding his motives, it would appear that his goal was to eventually place the then-too-young Marcus on the throne,[50] as part of his adoption, Commodus took the name Lucius Aelius Caesar. His health was so poor that during a ceremony to mark his becoming heir to the throne, he was too weak to lift a large shield on his own,[51] after a brief stationing on the Danube frontier, Aelius returned to Rome to make an address to the senate on the first day of 138. The night before the speech, however, he grew ill, and died of a haemorrhage later in the day.[52][notes 5]

On 24 January 138 AD, Hadrian selected Aurelius Antoninus, the husband of Marcus' aunt Faustina the Elder as his new successor,[54] after a few days' consideration, Antoninus accepted. He was adopted on 25 February, as part of Hadrian's terms, Antoninus adopted Marcus and Lucius Verus, the son of Lucius Aelius. By this scheme, Lucius Verus, who was already Hadrian's adoptive grandson through his natural father, remained Hadrian's adoptive grandson through his new father.

Marcus became M. Aelius Aurelius Verus; Lucius became L. Aelius Aurelius Commodus, at Hadrian's request, Antoninus' daughter Faustina was betrothed to Lucius.[55] He reportedly greeted the news that Hadrian had become his adoptive grandfather with sadness, instead of joy. Only with reluctance did he move from his mother's house on the Caelian to Hadrian's private home.[56]

At some time in 138 AD, Hadrian requested in the senate that Marcus be exempt from the law barring him from becoming quaestor before his twenty-fourth birthday, the senate complied, and Marcus served under Antoninus, consul for 139.[57] Marcus' adoption diverted him from the typical career path of his class. If not for his adoption, he probably would have become triumvir monetalis, a highly regarded post involving token administration of the state mint; after that, he could have served as tribune with a legion, becoming the legion's nominal second-in-command. Marcus probably would have opted for travel and further education instead, as it was, Marcus was set apart from his fellow citizens. Nonetheless, his biographer attests that his character remained unaffected: "He still showed the same respect to his relations as he had when he was an ordinary citizen, and he was as thrifty and careful of his possessions as he had been when he lived in a private household."[58]

Baiae, seaside resort and site of Hadrian's last days. Marcus would holiday in the town with the imperial family in the summer of 143.[59] (J.M.W. Turner, The Bay of Baiae, with Apollo and Sybil, 1823)

After a series of suicide attempts, all thwarted by Antoninus, Hadrian left for Baiae, a seaside resort on the Campanian coast, his condition did not improve, and he abandoned the diet prescribed by his doctors, indulging himself in food and drink. He sent for Antoninus, who was at his side when he died on 10 July 138,[60] his remains were buried quietly at Puteoli.[61] The succession to Antoninus was peaceful and stable: Antoninus kept Hadrian's nominees in office and appeased the senate, respecting its privileges and commuting the death sentences of men charged in Hadrian's last days,[62] for his dutiful behavior, Antoninus was asked to accept the name "Pius".[63]

Immediately after Hadrian's death, Antoninus approached Marcus and requested that his marriage arrangements be amended: Marcus' betrothal to Ceionia Fabia would be annulled, and he would be betrothed to Faustina, Antoninus' daughter, instead. Faustina's betrothal to Ceionia's brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be annulled. Marcus consented to Antoninus' proposal.[64]

Antoninus bolstered Marcus' dignity: Marcus was made consul for 140 AD, with Antoninus as his colleague, and was appointed as a seviri, one of the knights' six commanders, at the order's annual parade on 15 July 139 AD, as the heir apparent, Marcus became princeps iuventutis, head of the equestrian order. He now took the name Caesar: Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar.[65] Marcus would later caution himself against taking the name too seriously: "See that you do not turn into a Caesar; do not be dipped into the purple dye—for that can happen".[66] At the senate's request, Marcus joined all the priestly colleges (pontifices, augures, quindecimviri sacris faciundis, septemviri epulonum, etc.);[67] direct evidence for membership, however, is available only for the Arval Brethren.[68]

Antoninus demanded that Marcus take up residence in the House of Tiberius, the imperial palace on the Palatine. Antoninus also made him take up the habits of his new station, the aulicum fastigium or "pomp of the court", against Marcus' objections.[67] Marcus would struggle to reconcile the life of the court with his philosophic yearnings, he told himself it was an attainable goal—"where life is possible, then it is possible to live the right life; life is possible in a palace, so it is possible to live the right life in a palace"[69]—but he found it difficult nonetheless. He would criticize himself in the Meditations for "abusing court life" in front of company.[70]

As quaestor, Marcus would have had little real administrative work to do, he would read imperial letters to the senate when Antoninus was absent, and would do secretarial work for the senators. His duties as consul were more significant: one of two senior representatives of the senate, he would preside over meetings and take a major role in the body's administrative functions,[71] he felt drowned in paperwork, and complained to his tutor, Fronto: "I am so out of breath from dictating nearly thirty letters".[72] He was being "fitted for ruling the state", in the words of his biographer,[73] he was required to make a speech to the assembled senators as well, making oratorical training essential for the job.[74]

On 1 January 145 AD, Marcus was made consul a second time, he might have been unwell at this time: a letter from Fronto that might have been sent at this time urges Marcus to have plenty of sleep "so that you may come into the Senate with a good colour and read your speech with a strong voice".[75] Marcus had complained of an illness in an earlier letter: "As far as my strength is concerned, I am beginning to get it back; and there is no trace of the pain in my chest. But that ulcer [...][notes 6] I am having treatment and taking care not to do anything that interferes with it."[76] Marcus was never particularly healthy or strong, the Roman historian Cassius Dio, writing of his later years, praised him for behaving dutifully in spite of his various illnesses.[77]

In April 145 AD, Marcus married Faustina, as had been planned since 138 AD, since Marcus was, by adoption, Antoninus Pius' son, under Roman law he was marrying his sister; Antoninus would have had to formally release one or the other from his paternal authority (his patria potestas) for the ceremony to take place.[78] Little is specifically known of the ceremony, but it is said to have been "noteworthy".[79] Coins were issued with the heads of the couple, and Antoninus, as Pontifex Maximus, would have officiated. Marcus makes no apparent reference to the marriage in his surviving letters, and only sparing references to Faustina.[80]

After taking the toga virilis in 136 AD, Marcus probably began his training in oratory,[81] he had three tutors in Greek, Aninus Macer, Caninius Celer, and Herodes Atticus, and one in Latin, Fronto. The latter two were the most esteemed orators of the day.[82] (Fronto and Atticus, however, probably did not become his tutors until his adoption by Antoninus in 138 AD.) The preponderance of Greek tutors indicates the importance of the Greek language to the aristocracy of Rome.[83] This was the age of the Second Sophistic, a renaissance in Greek letters, although educated in Rome, in his Meditations, Marcus would write his inmost thoughts in Greek.[84]

Herodes Atticus was controversial: an enormously rich Athenian (probably the richest man in the eastern half of the empire), he was quick to anger, and resented by his fellow-Athenians for his patronizing manner.[85] Atticus was an inveterate opponent of Stoicism and philosophic pretensions,[86] he thought the Stoics' desire for a "lack of feeling" foolish: they would live a "sluggish, enervated life", he said.[87] Marcus would become a Stoic, he would not mention Herodes at all in his Meditations, in spite of the fact that they would come into contact many times over the following decades.[88]

Fronto was highly esteemed: in the self-consciously antiquarian world of Latin letters,[89] he was thought of as second only to Cicero, perhaps even an alternative to him,[90][notes 7] he did not care much for Herodes, though Marcus was eventually to put the pair on speaking terms. Fronto exercised a complete mastery of Latin, capable of tracing expressions through the literature, producing obscure synonyms, and challenging minor improprieties in word choice.[90]

A significant amount of the correspondence between Fronto and Marcus has survived,[94] the pair were very close. "Farewell my Fronto, wherever you are, my most sweet love and delight. How is it between you and me? I love you and you are not here."[95] Marcus spent time with Fronto's wife and daughter, both named Cratia, and they enjoyed light conversation.[96]

He wrote Fronto a letter on his birthday, claiming to love him as he loved himself, and calling on the gods to ensure that every word he learned of literature, he would learn "from the lips of Fronto",[97] his prayers for Fronto's health were more than conventional, because Fronto was frequently ill; at times, he seems to be an almost constant invalid, always suffering[98]—about one-quarter of the surviving letters deal with the man's sicknesses.[99] Marcus asks that Fronto's pain be inflicted on himself, "of my own accord with every kind of discomfort".[100]

Fronto never became Marcus' full-time teacher, and continued his career as an advocate. One notorious case brought him into conflict with Herodes.[101] Marcus pleaded with Fronto, first with "advice", then as a "favor", not to attack Herodes; he had already asked Herodes to refrain from making the first blows.[102] Fronto replied that he was surprised to discover Marcus counted Herodes as a friend (perhaps Herodes was not yet Marcus' tutor), allowed that Marcus might be correct,[103] but nonetheless affirmed his intent to win the case by any means necessary: "...the charges are frightful and must be spoken of as frightful. Those in particular which refer to the beating and robbing I will describe in such a way that they savour of gall and bile. If I happen to call him an uneducated little Greek it will not mean war to the death."[104] The outcome of the trial is unknown.[105]

By the age of twenty-five (between April 146 and April 147), Marcus had grown disaffected with his studies in jurisprudence, and showed some signs of general malaise, his master, he writes to Fronto, was an unpleasant blowhard, and had made "a hit at" him: "It is easy to sit yawning next to a judge, he says, but to be a judge is noble work."[106] Marcus had grown tired of his exercises, of taking positions in imaginary debates. When he criticized the insincerity of conventional language, Fronto took to defend it;[107] in any case, Marcus' formal education was now over. He had kept his teachers on good terms, following them devotedly, it "affected his health adversely", his biographer writes, to have devoted so much effort to his studies. It was the only thing the biographer could find fault with in Marcus' entire boyhood.[108]

Fronto had warned Marcus against the study of philosophy early on: "it is better never to have touched the teaching of philosophy...than to have tasted it superficially, with the edge of the lips, as the saying is".[109] He disdained philosophy and philosophers, and looked down on Marcus' sessions with Apollonius of Chalcedon and others in this circle.[94] Fronto put an uncharitable interpretation of Marcus' "conversion to philosophy": "in the fashion of the young, tired of boring work", Marcus had turned to philosophy to escape the constant exercises of oratorical training.[110] Marcus kept in close touch with Fronto, but he would ignore his scruples.[111]

Apollonius may have introduced Marcus to Stoic philosophy, but Quintus Junius Rusticus would have the strongest influence on the boy,[112][notes 8] he was the man Fronto recognized as having "wooed Marcus away" from oratory.[114] He was twenty years older than Marcus, older than Fronto, as the grandson of Arulenus Rusticus, one of the martyrs to the tyranny of Domitian (r. 81–96), he was heir to the tradition of "Stoic Opposition" to the "bad emperors" of the 1st century;[115] the true successor of Seneca (as opposed to Fronto, the false one).[116] Marcus thanks Rusticus for teaching him "not to be led astray into enthusiasm for rhetoric, for writing on speculative themes, for discoursing on moralizing texts...To avoid oratory, poetry, and 'fine writing'".[117]

On November 30, 147, Faustina gave birth to a girl, named Domitia Faustina, she was the first of at least thirteen children (including two sets of twins) that Faustina would bear over the next twenty-three years. The next day, 1 December, Antoninus Pius gave Marcus the tribunician power and the imperium—authority over the armies and provinces of the emperor, as tribune, Marcus had the right to bring one measure before the senate after the four Antoninus could introduce. His tribunican powers would be renewed, with Antoninus', on 10 December 147.[118]

The first mention of Domitia in Marcus' letters reveals her as a sickly infant. "Caesar to Fronto. If the gods are willing we seem to have a hope of recovery, the diarrhea has stopped, the little attacks of fever have been driven away. But the emaciation is still extreme and there is still quite a bit of coughing." He and Faustina, Marcus wrote, had been "pretty occupied" with the girl's care.[119] Domitia would die in 151.[120]

In 149, Faustina gave birth again, to twin sons. Contemporary coinage commemorates the event, with crossed cornucopiae beneath portrait busts of the two small boys, and the legend temporum felicitas, "the happiness of the times", they did not survive long. Before the end of the year, another family coin was issued: it shows only a tiny girl, Domitia Faustina, and one boy baby. Then another: the girl alone, the infants were buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian, where their epitaphs survive. They were called Titus Aurelius Antoninus and Tiberius Aelius Aurelius.[121]

Marcus steadied himself: "One man prays: 'How I may not lose my little child', but you must pray: 'How I may not be afraid to lose him'."[122] He quoted from the Iliad what he called the "briefest and most familiar saying...enough to dispel sorrow and fear":

leaves,
the wind scatters some on the face of the ground;
like unto them are the children of men.

Another daughter was born on 7 March 150, Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla, at some time between 155 and 161, probably soon after 155, Marcus' mother, Domitia Lucilla, died.[124] Faustina probably had another daughter in 151, but the child, Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina, might not have been born until 153.[125] Another son, Tiberius Aelius Antoninus, was born in 152. A coin issue celebrates fecunditati Augustae, "the Augusta's fertility", depicting two girls and an infant, the boy did not survive long; on coins from 156, only the two girls were depicted. He might have died in 152, the same year as Marcus' sister, Cornificia.[126]

By 28 March 158, however, when Marcus replied, the child was dead, Marcus thanked the temple synod, "even though this turned out otherwise", the child's name is unknown.[127] In 159 and 160, Faustina gave birth to daughters: Fadilla, after one of Faustina's dead sisters, and Cornificia, after Marcus' dead sister.[128]

Antoninus Pius, Marcus' adoptive father and predecessor as emperor (Glyptothek)

Meanwhile, during the reign of his adoptive father, Antoninus, as a prince and future emperor, Marcus' adoptive brother Lucius Verus received careful education from the famous “grammaticus” Marcus Cornelius Fronto, the young Verus was reported to have been an excellent student, fond of writing poetry and delivering speeches. Lucius started his political career as a quaestor in 153, two years before the legal age of 25 (Marcus held the office at 17); in 154, he was consul, nine years before the legal age of 32 (Marcus held the office at 18 and 23), and in 161 was consul again with Marcus Aurelius as his senior partner.

Lucius had no other titles, except that of "son of Augustus". Lucius had a markedly different personality from Marcus: he enjoyed sports of all kinds, but especially hunting and wrestling; he took obvious pleasure in the circus games and gladiatorial fights.[129][notes 9] He did not marry until 164.[133]

In 156, Antoninus Pius turned 70, he found it difficult to keep himself upright without stays. He started nibbling on dry bread to give him the strength to stay awake through his morning receptions, as Antoninus aged, Marcus would take on more administrative duties, more still when he became the praetorian prefect (an office that was as much secretarial as military) as Gavius Maximus died in 156 or 157.[134] In 160, Marcus and Lucius were designated joint consuls for the following year. Perhaps Antoninus was already ill; in any case, he died before the year was out.[128]

Two days before his death, the biographer reports, Antoninus was at his ancestral estate at Lorium, in Etruria,[135] about 19 kilometres (12 mi) from Rome.[136] He ate Alpine cheese at dinner quite greedily; in the night he vomited; he had a fever the next day. The day after that, 7 March 161,[137] he summoned the imperial council, and passed the state and his daughter to Marcus, the emperor gave the keynote to his life in the last word that he uttered when the tribune of the night-watch came to ask the password—"aequanimitas" (equanimity).[138] He then turned over, as if going to sleep, and died,[139] his death closed out the longest reign since Augustus, surpassing Tiberius by a couple of months.[140]

After the death of Antoninus Pius, Marcus was effectively sole ruler of the Empire, the formalities of the position would follow. The senate would soon grant him the name Augustus and the title imperator, and he would soon be formally elected as Pontifex Maximus, chief priest of the official cults. Marcus made some show of resistance: the biographer writes that he was "compelled" to take imperial power,[141] this may have been a genuine horror imperii, "fear of imperial power". Marcus, with his preference for the philosophic life, found the imperial office unappealing, his training as a Stoic, however, had made the choice clear. It was his duty.[142]

Although Marcus showed no personal affection for Hadrian (significantly, he does not thank him in the first book of his Meditations), he presumably believed it his duty to enact the man's succession plans.[143] Thus, although the senate planned to confirm Marcus alone, he refused to take office unless Lucius received equal powers,[144] the senate accepted, granting Lucius the imperium, the tribunician power, and the name Augustus.[145] Marcus became, in official titulature, Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; Lucius, forgoing his name Commodus and taking Marcus' family name, Verus, became Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus.[146][notes 10] It was the first time that Rome was ruled by two emperors.[149][notes 11]

In spite of their nominal equality, Marcus held more auctoritas, or "authority", than Lucius, he had been consul once more than Lucius, he had shared in Antoninus' administration, and he alone was Pontifex Maximus. It would have been clear to the public which emperor was the more senior,[149] as the biographer wrote, "Verus obeyed Marcus...as a lieutenant obeys a proconsul or a governor obeys the emperor."[150]

Immediately after their senate confirmation, the emperors proceeded to the Castra Praetoria, the camp of the praetorian guard. Lucius addressed the assembled troops, which then acclaimed the pair as imperatores. Then, like every new emperor since Claudius, Lucius promised the troops a special donative,[151] this donative, however, was twice the size of those past: 20,000 sesterces (5,000 denarii) per capita, with more to officers. In return for this bounty, equivalent to several years' pay, the troops swore an oath to protect the emperors,[152] the ceremony was perhaps not entirely necessary, given that Marcus' accession had been peaceful and unopposed, but it was good insurance against later military troubles.[153]

Upon his accession he also devalued the Roman currency, he decreased the silver purity of the denarius from 83.5% to 79%—the silver weight dropping from 2.68 grams to 2.57 grams.[154] However, Marcus would later revisit the issue of currency reform.

Antoninus Pius' funeral ceremonies were, in the words of the biographer, "elaborate".[155] If his funeral followed those of his predecessors, his body would have been incinerated on a pyre at the Campus Martius, and his spirit would have been seen as ascending to the gods' home in the heavens. Marcus and Lucius nominated their father for deification; in contrast to their behavior during Antoninus' campaign to deify Hadrian, the senate did not oppose the emperors' wishes. A flamen, or cultic priest, was appointed to minister the cult of the deified Antoninus, now Divus Antoninus. Antoninus Pius' remains were laid to rest in the Hadrian's mausoleum, beside the remains of Marcus' children and of Hadrian himself,[156] the temple he had dedicated to his wife, Diva Faustina, became the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. It survives as the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda.[153]

In accordance with his will, Antoninus' fortune passed on to Faustina.[157] (Marcus had little need of his wife's fortune. Indeed, at his accession, Marcus transferred part of his mother's estate to his nephew, Ummius Quadratus.[158]) Faustina was three months pregnant at her husband's accession. During the pregnancy she dreamed of giving birth to two serpents, one fiercer than the other,[159] on 31 August she gave birth at Lanuvium to twins: T. Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus.[160][notes 12] Aside from the fact that the twins shared Caligula's birthday, the omens were favorable, and the astrologers drew positive horoscopes for the children,[162] the births were celebrated on the imperial coinage.[163]

Soon after the emperors' accession, Marcus' eleven-year-old daughter, Annia Lucilla, was betrothed to Lucius (in spite of the fact that he was, formally, her uncle),[165] at the ceremonies commemorating the event, new provisions were made for the support of poor children, along the lines of earlier imperial foundations.[166] Marcus and Lucius proved popular with the people of Rome, who strongly approved of their civiliter ("lacking pomp") behavior, the emperors permitted free speech, evidenced by the fact that the comedy writer Marullus was able to criticize them without suffering retribution. At any other time, under any other emperor, he would have been executed, but it was a peaceful time, a forgiving time. And thus, as the biographer wrote, "No one missed the lenient ways of Pius."[167]

Marcus replaced a number of the empire's major officials, the ab epistulis Sextus Caecilius Crescens Volusianus, in charge of the imperial correspondence, was replaced with Titus Varius Clemens. Clemens was from the frontier province of Pannonia and had served in the war in Mauretania. Recently, he had served as procurator of five provinces, he was a man suited for a time of military crisis.[168] Lucius Volusius Maecianus, Marcus' former tutor, had been prefectural governor of Egypt at Marcus' accession. Maecianus was recalled, made senator, and appointed prefect of the treasury (aerarium Saturni), he was made consul soon after.[169] Fronto's son-in-law, Aufidius Victorinus, was appointed governor of Upper Germany.[170]

Fronto returned to his Roman townhouse at dawn on 28 March, having left his home in Cirta as soon as news of his pupils' accession reached him, he sent a note to the imperial freedman Charilas, asking if he could call on the emperors. Fronto would later explain that he had not dared to write the emperors directly,[171] the tutor was immensely proud of his students. Reflecting on the speech he had written on taking his consulship in 143, when he had praised the young Marcus, Fronto was ebullient: "There was then an outstanding natural ability in you; there is now perfected excellence. There was then a crop of growing corn; there is now a ripe, gathered harvest. What I was hoping for then, I have now, the hope has become a reality."[172] Fronto called on Marcus alone; neither thought to invite Lucius.[173]

Tiber Island seen at a forty-year high-water mark of the Tiber, December 2008

Lucius was less esteemed by his tutor than his brother, as his interests were on a lower level. Lucius asked Fronto to adjudicate in a dispute he and his friend Calpurnius were having on the relative merits of two actors.[174] Marcus told Fronto of his reading—Coelius and a little Cicero—and his family, his daughters were in Rome, with their great-great-aunt Matidia; Marcus thought the evening air of the country was too cold for them. He asked Fronto for "some particularly eloquent reading matter, something of your own, or Cato, or Cicero, or Sallust or Gracchus—or some poet, for I need distraction, especially in this kind of way, by reading something that will uplift and diffuse my pressing anxieties."[175]

Marcus' early reign proceeded smoothly. Marcus was able to give himself wholly to philosophy and the pursuit of popular affection.[176] Soon, however, Marcus would find he had many anxieties, it would mean the end of the felicitas temporum ("happy times") that the coinage of 161 had so glibly proclaimed.[177]

In the spring of 162,[notes 13] the Tiber overflowed its banks, flooding much of Rome, it drowned many animals, leaving the city in famine. Marcus and Lucius gave the crisis their personal attention;[179][notes 14] in other times of famine, the emperors are said to have provided for the Italian communities out of the Roman granaries.[181]

Fronto's letters continued through Marcus' early reign. Fronto felt that, because of Marcus' prominence and public duties, lessons were more important now than they had ever been before, he believed Marcus was "beginning to feel the wish to be eloquent once more, in spite of having for a time lost interest in eloquence".[182] Fronto would again remind his pupil of the tension between his role and his philosophic pretensions: "Suppose, Caesar, that you can attain to the wisdom of Cleanthes and Zeno, yet, against your will, not the philosopher's woolen cape."[183]

The early days of Marcus' reign were the happiest of Fronto's life: his pupil was beloved by the people of Rome, an excellent emperor, a fond pupil, and, perhaps most importantly, as eloquent as could be wished.[184] Marcus had displayed rhetorical skill in his speech to the senate after an earthquake at Cyzicus, it had conveyed the drama of the disaster, and the senate had been awed: "not more suddenly or violently was the city stirred by the earthquake than the minds of your hearers by your speech". Fronto was hugely pleased.[185]

On his deathbed, Antoninus Pius spoke of nothing but the state and the foreign kings who had wronged him.[186] One of those kings, Vologases IV of Parthia, made his move in late summer or early autumn 161.[187] Vologases entered the Kingdom of Armenia (then a Roman client state), expelled its king and installed his own—Pacorus, an Arsacid like himself.[188] The governor of Cappadocia, the front-line in all Armenian conflicts, was Marcus Sedatius Severianus, a Gaul with much experience in military matters.[189]

Convinced by the prophet Alexander of Abonutichus that he could defeat the Parthians easily, and win glory for himself,[190] Severianus led a legion (perhaps the IX Hispana[191]) into Armenia, but was trapped by the great Parthian general Chosrhoes at Elegia, a town just beyond the Cappadocian frontiers, high up past the headwaters of the Euphrates. Severianus made some attempt to fight Chosrhoes, but soon realized the futility of his campaign, and committed suicide, his legion was massacred. The campaign had only lasted three days.[192]

There was threat of war on other frontiers as well—in Britain, and in Raetia and Upper Germany, where the Chatti of the Taunus mountains had recently crossed over the limes.[193] Marcus was unprepared. Antoninus seems to have given him no military experience; the biographer writes that Marcus spent the whole of Antoninus' twenty-three-year reign at his emperor's side—and not in the provinces, where most previous emperors had spent their early careers.[194][notes 15]

More bad news arrived: the Syrian governor's army had been defeated by the Parthians, and retreated in disarray.[196] Reinforcements were dispatched for the Parthian frontier. P. Julius Geminius Marcianus, an African senator commanding X Gemina at Vindobona (Vienna), left for Cappadocia with detachments from the Danubian legions.[197] Three full legions were also sent east: I Minervia from Bonn in Upper Germany,[198]II Adiutrix from Aquincum,[199] and V Macedonica from Troesmis.[200]

The northern frontiers were strategically weakened; frontier governors were told to avoid conflict wherever possible.[201] M. Annius Libo, Marcus' first cousin, was sent to replace the Syrian governor, he was young—his first consulship was in 161, so he was probably in his early thirties[202]—and, as a mere patrician, lacked military experience. Marcus had chosen a reliable man rather than a talented one.[203]

Marcus took a four-day public holiday at Alsium, a resort town on the coast of Etruria, he was too anxious to relax. Writing to Fronto, he declared that he would not speak about his holiday.[204] Fronto replied ironically: "What? Do I not know that you went to Alsium with the intention of devoting yourself to games, joking, and complete leisure for four whole days?"[205] He encouraged Marcus to rest, calling on the example of his predecessors (Antoninus had enjoyed exercise in the palaestra, fishing, and comedy),[206] going so far as to write up a fable about the gods' division of the day between morning and evening—Marcus had apparently been spending most of his evenings on judicial matters instead of at leisure.[207] Marcus could not take Fronto's advice. "I have duties hanging over me that can hardly be begged off," he wrote back.[208] Marcus put on Fronto's voice to chastise himself: "'Much good has my advice done you', you will say!" He had rested, and would rest often, but "—this devotion to duty! Who knows better than you how demanding it is!"[209]

Fronto sent Marcus a selection of reading material,[210] and, to settle his unease over the course of the Parthian war, a long and considered letter, full of historical references; in modern editions of Fronto's works, it is labeled De bello Parthico (On the Parthian War). There had been reverses in Rome's past, Fronto writes,[211] but, in the end, Romans had always prevailed over their enemies: "always and everywhere [Mars] has changed our troubles into successes and our terrors into triumphs".[212]

The dissolute Syrian army was said to spend more time in Antioch's open-air taverns than with their units.[213] (Engraving by William Miller after a drawing by H. Warren from a sketch by Captain Byam Martin, R.N., 1866)

Over the winter of 161–162, as more bad news arrived—a rebellion was brewing in Syria—it was decided that Lucius should direct the Parthian war in person, he was stronger and healthier than Marcus, the argument went, more suited to military activity.[214] Lucius' biographer suggests ulterior motives: to restrain Lucius' debaucheries, to make him thrifty, to reform his morals by the terror of war, to realize that he was an emperor.[215][notes 16] Whatever the case, the senate gave its assent, and, in the summer of 162, Lucius left. Marcus would remain in Rome; the city "demanded the presence of an emperor".[217]

Lucius spent most of the campaign in Antioch, though he wintered at Laodicea and summered at Daphne, a resort just outside Antioch.[218] Critics declaimed Lucius' luxurious lifestyle,[219] he had taken to gambling, they said; he would "dice the whole night through".[220] He enjoyed the company of actors.[221][notes 17] Libo died early in the war; perhaps Lucius had murdered him.[223]

In the middle of the war, perhaps in autumn 163 or early 164, Lucius made a trip to Ephesus to be married to Marcus' daughter Lucilla.[224] Marcus moved up the date; perhaps he had already heard of Lucius' mistress, the low-born and beautiful Panthea.[225] Lucilla's thirteenth birthday was in March 163; whatever the date of her marriage, she was not yet fifteen.[226] Lucilla was accompanied by her mother Faustina and M. Vettulenus Civica Barbarus, the half-brother of Lucius' father.[227] Civica was made comes Augusti, "companion of the emperors"; perhaps Marcus wanted him to watch over Lucius, the job Libo had failed at.[228]

Marcus may have planned to accompany them all the way to Smyrna (the biographer says he told the senate he would); this did not happen.[229] Marcus only accompanied the group as far as Brundisium, where they boarded a ship for the east.[230] Marcus returned to Rome immediately thereafter, and sent out special instructions to his proconsuls not to give the group any official reception.[231]

The Armenian capital Artaxata was captured in 163,[232] at the end of the year, Verus took the title Armeniacus, despite having never seen combat; Marcus declined to accept the title until the following year.[233] When Lucius was hailed as imperator again, however, Marcus did not hesitate to take the Imperator II with him.[234]

Occupied Armenia was reconstructed on Roman terms; in 164, a new capital, Kaine Polis ('New City'), replaced Artaxata.[235] A new king was installed: a Roman senator of consular rank and Arsacid descent, Gaius Julius Sohaemus, he may not even have been crowned in Armenia; the ceremony may have taken place in Antioch, or even Ephesus.[236] Sohaemus was hailed on the imperial coinage of 164 under the legend Rex armeniis Datus: Lucius sat on a throne with his staff while Sohamenus stood before him, saluting the emperor.[237]

In 163, the Parthians intervened in Osroene, a Roman client in upper Mesopotamia centered on Edessa, and installed their own king on its throne;[238] in response, Roman forces were moved downstream, to cross the Euphrates at a more southerly point.[239] Before the end of 163, however, Roman forces had moved north to occupy Dausara and Nicephorium on the northern, Parthian bank.[240] Soon after the conquest of the north bank of the Euphrates, other Roman forces moved on Osroene from Armenia, taking Anthemusia, a town southwest of Edessa.[241]

In 165, Roman forces moved on Mesopotamia. Edessa was re-occupied, and Mannus, the king deposed by the Parthians, was re-installed,[242] the Parthians retreated to Nisibis, but this too was besieged and captured. The Parthian army dispersed in the Tigris.[243] A second force, under Avidius Cassius and the III Gallica, moved down the Euphrates, and fought a major battle at Dura.[244]

By the end of the year, Cassius' army had reached the twin metropolises of Mesopotamia: Seleucia on the right bank of the Tigris and Ctesiphon on the left. Ctesiphon was taken and its royal palace set to flame, the citizens of Seleucia, still largely Greek (the city had been commissioned and settled as a capital of the Seleucid Empire, one of Alexander the Great's successor kingdoms), opened its gates to the invaders. The city got sacked nonetheless, leaving a black mark on Lucius' reputation. Excuses were sought, or invented: the official version had it that the Seleucids broke faith first.[245]

Cassius' army, although suffering from a shortage of supplies and the effects of a plague contracted in Seleucia, made it back to Roman territory safely.[246] Lucius took the title Parthicus Maximus, and he and Marcus were hailed as imperatores again, earning the title 'imp. III'.[247] Cassius' army returned to the field in 166, crossing over the Tigris into Media. Lucius took the title 'Medicus',[248] and the emperors were again hailed as imperatores, becoming 'imp. IV' in imperial titulature. Marcus took the Parthicus Maximus now, after another tactful delay.[249]

Most of the credit for the war's success must be ascribed to subordinate generals, the most prominent of which was C. Avidius Cassius, commander of III Gallica, one of the Syrian legions. Cassius was a young senator of low birth from the north Syrian town of Cyrrhus, his father, Heliodorus, had not been a senator, but was nonetheless a man of some standing: he had been Hadrian's ab epistulis, followed the emperor on his travels, and was prefect of Egypt at the end of Hadrian's reign. Cassius also, with no small sense of self-worth, claimed descent from the Seleucid kings.[250] Cassius and his fellow commander in the war, Martius Verus, still probably in their mid-thirties, took the consulships for 166, after their consulships, they were made governors: Cassius, of Syria; Martius Verus, of Cappadocia.[251]

At Rome, Marcus was occupied with family matters. Matidia, his great-aunt, had died. However, her will was invalid under the lex Falcidia: Matidia had assigned more than three-quarters of her estate to non-relatives, this was because many of her clients were included in codicils to her will. Matidia had never confirmed the documents, but as she was dying, her clients had sealed them in with the original, making them valid. Fronto urged Marcus to push the family's case, but Marcus demurred, saying his brother would make the final decision.[252][notes 18]

On the return from the campaign, Lucius was awarded with a triumph; the parade was unusual because it included the two emperors, their sons and unmarried daughters as a big family celebration. Marcus Aurelius' two sons, Commodus, five years old, and Annius Verus, three, were elevated to the status of Caesar for the occasion.

The returning army carried with them a plague, afterwards known as the Antonine Plague, or the Plague of Galen, which spread through the Roman Empire between 165 and 180, the disease was a pandemic believed to be either of smallpox or measles, and may have claimed the lives of two Roman emperors—Lucius Verus, who died in 169, and Marcus Aurelius,[254] whose family name, Antoninus, was given to the epidemic. The disease broke out again nine years later, according to the Roman historian Dio Cassius, and caused up to 2,000 deaths a day at Rome, one-quarter of those infected. Total deaths have been estimated at five million.

Like many emperors, Marcus spent most of his time addressing matters of law such as petitions and hearing disputes;[262] but unlike many of his predecessors, he was already proficient in imperial administration when he assumed power.[263] Marcus took great care in the theory and practice of legislation. Professional jurists called him "an emperor most skilled in the law"[264] and "a most prudent and conscientiously just emperor",[265] he shows marked interest in three areas of the law: the manumission of slaves, the guardianship of orphans and minors, and the choice of city councillors (decuriones).[266] In 168 he revalued the denarius, increasing the silver purity from 79% to 82%—the actual silver weight increasing from 2.57 grams to 2.67 grams. However, two years later Marcus reverted to the previous values because of the military crises facing the empire.[154]

The Roman Empire during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. His annexation of lands of the Marcomanni and the Jazyges – perhaps to be provincially called Marcomannia and Sarmatia[267] – was cut short in 175 by the revolt of Avidius Cassius and in 180 by his death.[268]

Marcus Aurelius receiving the submission of the vanquished, with raised vexillum standards

Marcus Aurelius celebrating his triumph over Rome's enemies in 176 AD, riding in a quadriga chariot

During the early 160s, Fronto's son-in-law Victorinus was stationed as a legate in Germany, he was there with his wife and children (another child had stayed with Fronto and his wife in Rome).[269] The condition on the northern frontier looked grave. A frontier post had been destroyed, and it looked like all the peoples of central and northern Europe were in turmoil. There was corruption among the officers: Victorinus had to ask for the resignation of a legionary legate who was taking bribes.[270]

Far more dangerous was the invasion of 166, when the Marcomanni of Bohemia, clients of the Roman Empire since year 19, crossed the Danube together with the Lombards and other Germanic tribes.[273] Soon thereafter, the Iranian Sarmatians attacked between the Danube and the Theiss rivers.[274]

Due to the situation in the East, only a punitive expedition could be launched in 167. Both Marcus and Verus led the troops, after the death of Verus (169), Marcus personally led the struggle against the Germanic tribes for most of his remaining life. The Romans suffered at least two serious defeats by the Quadi and Marcomanni, who would cross the Alps, ravage Opitergium (Oderzo) and besiege Aquileia, the main Roman city of north-east Italy.

At the same time the Costoboci, coming from the Carpathian area, invaded Moesia, Macedonia and Greece. After a long struggle, Marcus Aurelius managed to push back the invaders. Numerous members of Germanic tribes settled in frontier regions like Dacia, Pannonia, Germany and Italy itself, this was not a new thing, but this time the numbers of settlers required the creation of two new frontier provinces on the left shore of the Danube, Sarmatia and Marcomannia, including today's Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. Some Germanic tribes who settled in Ravenna revolted and managed to seize possession of the city, for this reason, Marcus Aurelius decided not only against bringing more barbarians into Italy, but even banished those who had previously been brought there.[275]

The emperor's plans were prevented by an usurpation in 175 of the governor of Syria, Avidius Cassius, which was prompted by false news of the death of Marcus after an illness, the rebellion quickly gathered support in the Eastern provinces, only Cappadocia and Bithynia did not side with the rebels. When it became clear that Marcus Aurelius was still alive, Cassius' fortunes declined quickly and he was killed by his troops after only 100 days of power.

Together with his wife Faustina, Marcus Aurelius toured the eastern provinces until 173, he visited Athens, declaring himself a protector of philosophy. After a triumph in Rome, the following year he marched again to the Danubian frontier, after a decisive victory in 178, the plan to annex Moravia and West Slovakia seemed poised for success but was abandoned after Marcus Aurelius again fell ill in 180.

He was succeeded by his son Commodus, whom he had named Caesar in 166 and with whom he had jointly ruled since 177, it was only the second time that a "non-adoptive" son was chosen as heir to the throne. The only other having been a century earlier when Vespasian was succeeded by his son Titus. Historians have criticized the decision, citing Commodus' erratic behavior and lack of political and military acumen,[277] at the end of his history of Marcus' reign, Cassius Dio wrote an encomium to the emperor, and described the transition to Commodus in his own lifetime with sorrow:

...[Marcus] did not meet with the good fortune that he deserved, for he was not strong in body and was involved in a multitude of troubles throughout practically his entire reign. But for my part, I admire him all the more for this very reason, that amid unusual and extraordinary difficulties he both survived himself and preserved the empire. Just one thing prevented him from being completely happy, namely, that after rearing and educating his son in the best possible way he was vastly disappointed in him, this matter must be our next topic; for our history now descends from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust, as affairs did for the Romans of that day.

The youth turned out to be very erratic, or at least so anti-traditional that disaster was inevitable, but whether or not Marcus ought to have known this to be so, the rejections of his son's claims in favour of someone else would almost certainly have involved one of the civil wars which were to proliferate so disastrously around future successions.

Marcus Aurelius acquired the reputation of a philosopher king within his lifetime, and the title would remain his after death; both Dio and the biographer call him "the philosopher".[280] Christians such as Justin Martyr, Athenagoras and Melito gave him the title, too,[281] the last named went so far as to call Marcus Aurelius "more philanthropic and philosophic" than Antoninus Pius and Hadrian, and set him against the persecuting emperors Domitian and Nero to make the contrast bolder.[282] "Alone of the emperors," wrote the historian Herodian, "he gave proof of his learning not by mere words or knowledge of philosophical doctrines but by his blameless character and temperate way of life."[283]

Iain King concludes Marcus Aurelius' legacy is tragic, because the emperor's "Stoic philosophy—which is about self-restraint, duty, and respect for others—was so abjectly abandoned by the imperial line he anointed on his death".[284]

In the first two centuries of the Christian era, it was local Roman officials who were largely responsible for the persecution of Christians; in the second century, the emperors treated Christianity as a local problem to be dealt with by their subordinates.[285] The number and severity of persecutions of Christians in various locations of the empire seemingly increased during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the extent to which Marcus Aurelius himself directed, encouraged, or was aware of these persecutions is unclear and much debated by historians.[286]

According to Gibbon, with the onset of the Germanic war, his treatment of the Christians degraded with increased persecutions uncharacteristic of the previous years of his reign and those of his predecessors.[287]

It is not known how far Marcus' writings were circulated after his death. There are stray references in the ancient literature to the popularity of his precepts, and Julian the Apostate was well aware of Marcus' reputation as a philosopher, though he does not specifically mention the Meditations,[292] it survived in the scholarly traditions of the Eastern Church and the first surviving quotes of the book, as well as the first known reference of it by name ("Marcus' writings to himself") are from Arethas of Caesarea in the 10th century and in the Byzantine Suda (perhaps inserted by Arethas himself). It was first published in 1558 in Zurich by Wilhelm Xylander (ne Holzmann), from a manuscript reportedly lost shortly afterwards,[293] the oldest surviving complete manuscript copy is in the Vatican library and dates to the 14th century.[294]

^He was originally named Marcus Annius Catilius Severus (or perhaps Marcus Catilius Severus).[7] When he married he took the name Marcus Annius Verus,[8] and when he was named emperor, he was given the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.

^Cassius Dio asserts that the Annii were near-kin of Hadrian, and that it was to these familial ties that they owed their rise to power.[20] The precise nature of these kinship ties is nowhere stated. One conjectural bond runs through Annius Verus (II). Verus' wife Rupilia Faustina was the daughter of the consular senator Libo Rupilius Frugi and an unnamed mother, it has been hypothesized Rupilia Faustina's mother was Matidia, who was also the mother (presumably through another marriage) of Vibia Sabina, Hadrian's wife.[21]

^Moderns have not offered as positive an assessment. His second modern editor, Niebhur, thought him stupid and frivolous; his third editor, Naber, found him contemptible.[91] Historians have seen him as a "pedant and a bore", his letters offering neither the running political analysis of a Cicero or the conscientious reportage of a Pliny.[92] Recent prosopographic research has rehabilitated his reputation, though not by much.[93]

^Champlin notes that Marcus' praise of him in the Meditations is out of order (he is praised immediately after Diognetus, who had introduced Marcus to philosophy), giving him special emphasis.[113]

^Although part of the biographer's account of Lucius is fictionalized (probably to mimic Nero, whose birthday Lucius shared[130]), and another part poorly compiled from a better biographical source,[131] scholars have accepted these biographical details as accurate.[132]

^These name-swaps have proven so confusing that even the Historia Augusta, our main source for the period, cannot keep them straight.[147] The 4th-century ecclesiastical historian Eusebius of Caesarea shows even more confusion,[148] the mistaken belief that Lucius had the name "Verus" before becoming emperor has proven especially popular.[149]

^There was, however, much precedent. The consulate was a twin magistracy, and earlier emperors had often had a subordinate lieutenant with many imperial offices (under Antoninus, the lieutenant had been Marcus). Many emperors had planned a joint succession in the past—Augustus planned to leave Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar as joint emperors on his death; Tiberius wished to have Gaius Caligula and Tiberius Gemellus do so as well; Claudius left the empire to Nero and Britannicus, imagining that they would accept equal rank—but all of these arrangements had ended in failure, either through premature death (Gaius and Lucius Caesar) or judicial murder (Gemellus by Caligula and Britannicus by Nero).[149]

^The biographer relates the scurrilous (and, in the judgment of Anthony Birley, untrue) rumor that Commodus was an illegitimate child born of a union between Faustina and a gladiator.[161]

^Because both Verus and Marcus are said to have taken active part in the recovery (HA Marcus 8.4–5), the flood must have happened before Verus' departure for the east in 162; because it appears in the biographer's narrative after Antoninus' funeral has finished and the emperors have settled into their offices, it must not have occurred in the spring of 161. A date in autumn 161 or spring 162 is probable, and, given the normal seasonal distribution of Tiber flooding, the most probable date is in spring 162.[178] (Birley dates the flood to autumn 161.[173])

^Since 15 AD, the river had been administered by a Tiber Conservancy Board, with a consular senator at its head and a permanent staff. In 161, the curator alevi Tiberis et riparum et cloacarum urbis ("Curator of the Tiber Bed and Banks and the City Sewers") was A. Platorius Nepos, son or grandson of the builder of Hadrian's Wall, whose name he shares, he probably had not been particularly incompetent. A more likely candidate for that incompetence is Nepos' likely predecessor, M. Statius Priscus. A military man and consul for 159, Priscus probably looked on the office as little more than "paid leave".[180]

^The whole section of the vita dealing with Lucius' debaucheries (HA Verus 4.4–6.6), however, is an insertion into a narrative otherwise entirely cribbed from an earlier source. Most of the details are fabricated by the biographer himself, relying on nothing better than his own imagination.[222]

^"Pius, one of longest-serving emperors, became infirm in his last years, so Marcus Aurelius gradually assumed the imperial duties. By the time he succeeded in AD 161, he was already well-practised in public administration." This quote is from philosopher Iain King, writing about Aurelius in Thinkers At War, published August 2014, accessed November 2014.

Banchich, Thomas M., trans. A Booklet About the Style of Life and the Manners of the Imperatores. Canisius College Translated Texts 1. Buffalo, NY: Canisius College, 2009. Online at De Imperatoribus Romanis. Accessed 31 August 2009.

Herodian. Ab Excessu Divi Marci (History of the Roman Empire from the Death of Marcus Aurelius).

Echols, Edward C., trans. Herodian of Antioch's History of the Roman Empire. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1961. Online at Tertullian and Livius. Accessed 14 September 2009.

Fowler, H.W., and H.G., trans. The Works of Lucian of Samosata. 4 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905. The Way to Write History, in volume 2, online at Sacred Texts, based on the Gutenberg e-text. Accessed 26 August 2009.

Imagines (Essays in Portraiture [Images]).

Fowler, H.W., and H.G., trans. The Works of Lucian of Samosata. 4 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905. A Portrait Study, in volume 3, online at Sacred Texts, based on the Gutenberg e-text. Accessed 26 August 2009.

Pro Imaginibus (Essays in Portraiture Defended).

Fowler, H.W., and H.G., trans. The Works of Lucian of Samosata. 4 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905. Defence of the 'Portrait-Study', in volume 3, online at Sacred Texts, based on the Gutenberg e-text. Accessed 26 August 2009.

1.
Aurelian
–
Aurelian was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. Born in humble circumstances, he rose through the ranks to become emperor. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war and he also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empires eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273, the following year he conquered the Gallic Empire in the west, reuniting the Empire in its entirety. He was also responsible for the construction of the Aurelian Walls in Rome, and his successes were instrumental in ending the Roman Empires Crisis of the Third Century, earning him the title Restitutor Orbis or Restorer of the World. Although Domitian was the first emperor who had demanded to be hailed as dominus et deus. Aurelian was born on 9 September, most likely in 214 AD, the ancient sources are not agreed on his place of birth, although he was generally accepted as being a native of Illyricum. Sirmium in Pannonia Inferior is the location, which was created by Aurelian as Emperor when he abandoned the old trans-Danubian territory of Dacia. The academic consensus is that he was of humble birth and that his father was a peasant-farmer who took his Roman nomen from his landlord, however, it seems that this pleasant extrapolation of dubious facts is now generally accepted as being no more than just that. It is commonly accepted that Aurelian probably joined the army in 235 AD at around age twenty and it is also generally assumed that, as a member of the lowest rank of society - albeit a citizen - he would have enlisted in the ranks of the legions. This would have opened up for him the tres militia - the three steps of the military career - one of the routes to higher equestrian office in the Imperial Service. This could be a more expeditious route to senior military and procuratorial offices than that pursued by ex-rankers and his suggestion has not been taken up by other academic authorities. Whatever his origins, Aurelian certainly must have built up a solid reputation for military competence during the tumultuous mid-decades of the century. His successes as a cavalry commander ultimately made him a member of emperor Gallienus entourage, in 268, Aurelian and his cavalry participated in general Claudius victory over the Goths at the Battle of Naissus. Later that year Gallienus traveled to Italy and fought Aureolus, his former general, driving Aureolus back into Mediolanum, Gallienus promptly besieged his adversary in the city. However, while the siege was ongoing the Emperor was assassinated, one source says Aurelian, who was present at the siege, participated and supported general Claudius for the purple – which is plausible. Aurelian was married to Ulpia Severina, about whom little is known, like Aurelian she was from Dacia. They are known to have had a daughter together, Claudius was acclaimed Emperor by the soldiers outside Mediolanum

2.
Roman emperor
–
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period. The emperors used a variety of different titles throughout history, often when a given Roman is described as becoming emperor in English, it reflects his taking of the title Augustus or Caesar. Another title often used was imperator, originally a military honorific, early Emperors also used the title princeps. Emperors frequently amassed republican titles, notably Princeps Senatus, Consul, the first emperors reigned alone, later emperors would sometimes rule with co-Emperors and divide administration of the Empire between them. The Romans considered the office of emperor to be distinct from that of a king, the first emperor, Augustus, resolutely refused recognition as a monarch. Although Augustus could claim that his power was authentically republican, his successor, Tiberius, nonetheless, for the first three hundred years of Roman Emperors, from Augustus until Diocletian, a great effort was made to emphasize that the Emperors were the leaders of a Republic. Elements of the Republican institutional framework were preserved until the end of the Western Empire. The Eastern emperors ultimately adopted the title of Basileus, which had meant king in Greek, but became a title reserved solely for the Roman emperor, other kings were then referred to as rēgas. In addition to their office, some emperors were given divine status after death. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in the late 5th century, Romulus Augustulus is often considered to be the last emperor of the west after his forced abdication in 476, although Julius Nepos maintained a claim to the title until his death in 480. Constantine XI was the last Byzantine Roman emperor in Constantinople, dying in the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, a Byzantine group of claimant Roman Emperors existed in the Empire of Trebizond until its conquest by the Ottomans in 1461. In western Europe the title of Roman Emperor was revived by Germanic rulers, the Holy Roman Emperors, in 800, at the end of the Roman Republic no new, and certainly no single, title indicated the individual who held supreme power. Insofar as emperor could be seen as the English translation of imperator, then Julius Caesar had been an emperor, however, Julius Caesar, unlike those after him, did so without the Senates vote and approval. Julius Caesar held the Republican offices of four times and dictator five times, was appointed dictator in perpetuity in 45 BC and had been pontifex maximus for a long period. He gained these positions by senatorial consent, by the time of his assassination, he was the most powerful man in the Roman world. In his will, Caesar appointed his adopted son Octavian as his heir, a decade after Caesars death, Octavians victory over his erstwhile ally Mark Antony at Actium put an end to any effective opposition and confirmed Octavians supremacy. His restoration of powers to the Senate and the people of Rome was a demonstration of his auctoritas, some later historians such as Tacitus would say that even at Augustus death, the true restoration of the Republic might have been possible. Instead, Augustus actively prepared his adopted son Tiberius to be his successor, the Senate disputed the issue but eventually confirmed Tiberius as princeps

3.
Antoninus Pius
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Antoninus Pius, also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was one of the Five Good Emperors in the Nerva–Antonine dynasty and he died of illness in 161 and was succeeded by his adopted sons Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as co-emperors. He was born as the child of Titus Aurelius Fulvus. The Aurelii Fulvii were therefore a new senatorial family from Gallia Narbonensis whose rise to prominence was supported by the Flavians. The link between Antoninus family and their home province explains the importance of the post of Proconsul of Gallia Narbonensis during the late Second Century. Antoninus was born near Lanuvium and his mother was Arria Fadilla, the Arrii Antoninii were an older senatorial family from Italy, very influential during Nervas reign. Arria Fadilla, Antoninus mother, married afterwards Publius Julius Lupus, a man of rank, suffect consul in 98. Some time between 110 and 115, Antoninus married Annia Galeria Faustina the Elder and they are believed to have enjoyed a happy marriage. Faustina was the daughter of consul Marcus Annius Verus and Rupilia Faustina, Faustina was a beautiful woman, and despite rumours about her character, it is clear that Antoninus cared for her deeply. Faustina bore Antoninus four children, two sons and two daughters and they were, Marcus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus, his sepulchral inscription has been found at the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome. Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus, his sepulchral inscription has been found at the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome and his name appears on a Greek Imperial coin. Aurelia Fadilla, she married Lucius Lamia Silvanus, consul 145 and she appeared to have no children with her husband and her sepulchral inscription has been found in Italy. Annia Galeria Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger, a future Roman Empress, married her maternal cousin, when Faustina died in 141, Antoninus was greatly distressed. In honour of her memory, he asked the Senate to deify her as a goddess and he had various coins with her portrait struck in her honor. These coins were scripted ‘DIVA FAUSTINA’ and were elaborately decorated and he further created a charity which he founded and called it Puellae Faustinianae or Girls of Faustina, which assisted destitute girls of good family. Finally, Antoninus created a new alimenta, instead, he lived with Galena Lysistrata, one of Faustinas freed women. Concubinage was a form of female companionship sometimes chosen by powerful men in Ancient Rome, especially widowers like Vespasian and their union could not produce any legitimate offspring who could threaten any heirs, such as those of Antoninus. Also, as one could not have a wife and a concubine at the same time

4.
Commodus
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Commodus, born Lucius Aurelius Commodus and died Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus, was Roman Emperor from AD180 to 192. He also ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his fathers death in 180 and his accession as emperor was the first time a son had succeeded his biological father since Titus succeeded Vespasian in 79. He was also the first emperor to have both a father and grandfather as the two preceding emperors, Commodus was the first emperor born in the purple, i. e. during his fathers reign. Commodus was assassinated in 192, succeeded by Pertinax whose reign did not last long during the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors, Commodus was born on 31 August AD161, as Commodus, in Lanuvium, near Rome. He was the son of the emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and Aurelius first cousin, Faustina the Younger, the youngest daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. Commodus had a twin brother, Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus. On 12 October 166, Commodus was made Caesar together with his younger brother, the latter died in 169 having failed to recover from an operation, which left Commodus as Marcus Aurelius sole surviving son. He was looked after by his fathers physician, Galen, in order to keep Commodus healthy, Galen treated many of Commodus common illnesses. Commodus received extensive tutoring by a multitude of teachers with a focus on intellectual education, among his teachers Onesicrates, Antistius Capella, Titus Aius Sanctus, and Pitholaus are mentioned. Commodus is known to have been at Carnuntum, the headquarters of Marcus Aurelius during the Marcomannic Wars and it was presumably there that, on 15 October 172, he was given the victory title Germanicus, in the presence of the army. The title suggests that Commodus was present at his fathers victory over the Marcomanni, on 20 January 175, Commodus entered the College of Pontiffs, the starting point of a career in public life. In April 175, Avidius Cassius, Governor of Syria, declared himself Emperor following rumours that Marcus Aurelius had died, having been accepted as Emperor by Syria, Judea and Egypt, Cassius carried on his rebellion even after it had become obvious that Marcus was still alive. During the preparations for the campaign against Cassius, the Prince assumed his toga virilis on the Danubian front on 7 July 175, Cassius, however, was killed by one of his centurions before the campaign against him could begin. Commodus subsequently accompanied his father on a trip to the Eastern provinces. The Emperor and his son traveled to Athens, where they were initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. They then returned to Rome in the Autumn of 176, on 27 November 176, Marcus Aurelius granted Commodus the rank of Imperator and, in the middle of 177, the title Augustus, giving his son the same status as his own and formally sharing power. On 23 December of the year, the two Augusti celebrated a joint triumph, and Commodus was given tribunician power. On 1 January 177, Commodus became consul for the first time, which him, aged 15

5.
Lucius Verus
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Lucius Verus was the Roman Emperor from 161 to 169. When he was adopted by Caesar Antoninus Pius in February 138 and his name changed again following his ascension in 161. He ruled together with his adoptive brother Marcus Aurelius as co-emperor from 161 until his own death in 169, during his reign, the Roman Empire defeated a revitalized Parthia in the east, Veruss general, Avidius Cassius, sacked their capital, Ctesiphon, in 164. He was deified by the Roman Senate as the Divine Verus, Lucius Verus was the first-born son to Avidia Plautia and Lucius Aelius Caesar, the first adopted son and heir of Roman Emperor Hadrian. He was born and raised in Rome, Verus had another brother, Gaius Avidius Ceionius Commodus, and two sisters, Ceionia Fabia and Ceionia Plautia. His maternal grandparents were the Roman senator, Gaius Avidius Nigrinus, although his adoptive paternal grandparent was the Roman Emperor Hadrian, his biological paternal grandparents were the consul Lucius Ceionius Commodus and noblewoman Aelia or Fundania Plautia. When his father died in early 138, Hadrian chose Antoninus Pius as his successor, Antoninus was adopted by Hadrian on the condition that Verus and Hadrian’s great-nephew Marcus Aurelius be adopted by Antoninus as his sons and heirs. By this scheme, Verus, who was already Hadrians adoptive grandson through his father, remained Hadrians adoptive grandson through his new father. The adoption of Marcus Aurelius was probably a suggestion of Antoninus himself, faustinas betrothal to Ceionias brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be annulled. As a prince and future emperor, Verus received careful education from the famous grammaticus Marcus Cornelius Fronto and he was reported to have been an excellent student, fond of writing poetry and delivering speeches. Verus started his career as a quaestor in 153, became consul in 154. Antoninus died on 7 March 161, and was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Aurelius bore deep affection for Antoninus, as evidenced by the first book of Meditations. Although the senate planned to confirm Marcus alone, he refused to take office unless Lucius received equal powers, the senate accepted, granting Lucius the imperium, the tribunician power, and the name Augustus. It was the first time that Rome was ruled by two emperors, in spite of their nominal equality, Marcus held more auctoritas, or authority, than Verus. He had been once more than Lucius, he had shared in Pius administration. It would have been clear to the public which emperor was the more senior, as the biographer wrote, Verus obeyed Marcus. as a lieutenant obeys a proconsul or a governor obeys the emperor. Immediately after their confirmation, the emperors proceeded to the Castra Praetoria. Lucius addressed the troops, which then acclaimed the pair as imperatores

6.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth

7.
Vindobona
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Vindobona was a Celtic settlement and later a Roman military camp on the site of the modern city of Vienna in Austria. The settlement area took on a new name in the 13th-century, being changed to Berghof, around 15 BC, the kingdom of Noricum was included in the Roman Empire. Early references to Vindobona are made by the geographer Ptolemy in his Geographica and the historian Aurelius Victor, today, there is a Marc-Aurelstraße near the Hoher Markt in Vienna. Vindobona was part of the Roman province Pannonia, of which the administrative centre was Carnuntum. Vindobona was a camp with an attached civilian city. The military complex covered an area of some 20 hectares, housing about 6000 men where Vienna’s first district now stands, the Danube marked the border of the Roman Empire, and Vindobona was part of a defensive network including the camps of Carnuntum, Brigetio and Aquincum. Under Emperor Trajan, four legions were stationed in Pannonia, Marcus Aurelius is said to have died in Vindobona on March 17 in the year 180AD from an unknown illness while on a military campaign against invading Germanic tribes. Vindobona was provisioned by the surrounding Roman country estates, a centre of trade with a developed infrastructure as well as agriculture and forestry developed around Vindobona. Civic communities developed outside the fortifications, as another community that was independent of the military authorities in todays third district. It has also proven that a Germanic settlement with a large marketplace existed on the far side of the Danube from the second century onwards. The oblique camp border along todays street Salzgries was probably caused by a flood of the river Danube that occurred during the 3rd century. The name “Graben” is believed to back to the defensive ditches of the military camp. It is thought that at least parts of the walls still stood in the Middle Ages, when streets were laid out. The Berghof was later erected in one corner of the camp, wars, administrative and military reforms in the 3rd and 4th century as well as devastating floods led the population to retreat more and more into the military camp. The area lost its importance as a border in the 5th century, remains of the Roman military camp have been found at many sites in the centre of Vienna. The centre of the Michaelerplatz has been investigated by archaeologists. Here, traces of a Roman legionary outpost and of a crossroad have been found, part of a Roman canal system is underneath the fire station am Hof. Directly under the Hoher Markt are the remains of two buildings unearthed during the works of 1948/49 and made accessible to the public

8.
Sirmium
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Sirmium was a city in the Roman province of Pannonia. In 294 AD, Sirmium was proclaimed one of four capitals of the Roman Empire and it was also the capital of the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum and of Pannonia Secunda. Sirmium was located on the Sava river, on the site of modern Sremska Mitrovica in northern Serbia, ¨The site is protected as an Archaeological Site of Exceptional Importance. The modern region of Syrmia was named after the city, Sirmium had 100,000 inhabitants and was one of the biggest cities of its time. Colin McEvedy, however, put the population at only 7,000, Ammianus Marcellinus called it the glorious mother of cities. Remains of Sirmium stand on the site of the modern-day Sremska Mitrovica,55 km west of Belgrade and 145 km away from Kostolac, archaeologists have found traces of organized human life on the site of Sirmium dating from 5,000 BC. The city was mentioned in the 4th century BC and was originally inhabited by the Illyrians. The Triballi king Syrmus was later considered the founder of Sirmium, but the roots are different. The name Sirmium by itself means flow, flowing water, wetland, with the Celtic tribe of Scordisci as allies, the Roman proconsul Marcus Vinicius took Sirmium in around 14 BC. In the 1st century AD, Sirmium gained the status of a Roman colony, the Roman emperors Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, and Claudius II prepared war expeditions in Sirmium. In 103 Pannonia was split into two provinces, Pannonia Superior and Pannonia Inferior, and Sirmium became the city of the latter. In 296 Diocletian reorganized Pannonia into four provinces, Pannonia Prima, Pannonia Valeria, Pannonia Savia and Pannonia Secunda and he joined them with Noricum and Dalmatia to establish the Diocese of Pannonia, with Sirmium as its capital also. In 293, with the establishment of the Tetrarchy, the Roman Empire was split into four parts, Sirmium emerged as one of the four capital cities, the eastern part of Illyricum remained a separate prefecture under the East Roman Empire with its new capital in Thessalonica. From the 4th century, the city was an important Christian center, five church councils, the Councils of Sirmium, took place in Sirmium. The city also had a palace, a horse-racing arena, a mint, an arena theatre. Ancient historian Ammianus Marcellinus called it the mother of cities. The mint in Sirmium was connected with the mint in Salona, at the end of the 4th century Sirmium came under the sway of the Goths, and later, was again annexed to the East Roman Empire. In 441 the Huns conquered Sirmium, it remained for more than a century in the hands of other tribes, such as Eastern Goths

9.
Castel Sant'Angelo
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The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel SantAngelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself, the building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. The Castle was once the tallest building in Rome, the tomb of the Roman emperor Hadrian, also called Hadrians mole, was erected on the right bank of the Tiber, between 134 and 139 AD. Originally the mausoleum was a cylinder, with a garden top. Hadrians ashes were placed here a year after his death in Baiae in 138, together with those of his wife Sabina, and his first adopted son, Lucius Aelius, who also died in 138. Following this, the remains of succeeding emperors were also placed here, the urns containing these ashes were probably placed in what is now known as the Treasury room deep within the building. Much of the contents and decorations have been lost since the buildings conversion to a military fortress in 401. The use of spolia from the tomb in the period was noted in the 16th century — Giorgio Vasari writes. Legend holds that the Archangel Michael appeared atop the mausoleum, sheathing his sword as a sign of the end of the plague of 590, thus lending the castle its present name. A less charitable yet more apt elaboration of the legend, given the militant disposition of this archangel, was heard by the 15th-century traveler who saw a statue on the castle roof. He recounts that during a season of the plague, Pope Gregory I heard that the populace. A vision urged the pope to lead a procession to the church, upon arriving, the idol miraculously fell apart with a clap of thunder. Returning to St Peters by the Aelian Bridge, the pope had another vision of an angel atop the castle, wiping the blood from his sword on his mantle, and then sheathing it. While the pope interpreted this as a sign that God was appeased, leo X built a chapel with a Madonna by Raffaello da Montelupo. In 1536 Montelupo also created a statue of Saint Michael holding his sword after the 590 plague to surmount the Castel. Later Paul III built an apartment, to ensure that in any future siege the pope had an appropriate place to stay. Montelupos statue was replaced by a statue of the same subject, executed by the Flemish sculptor Peter Anton von Verschaffelt. Verschaffelts is still in place and Montelupos can be seen in a court in the interior of the Castle

10.
Lucilla
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Commodus ordered Lucillas execution after a failed assassination and coup attempt when she was about 33 years old. Born and raised in Rome into a political family, Lucilla was a younger twin with her elder brother Gemellus Lucillae. Lucilla’s maternal grandparents were Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress Faustina the Elder and her grandparents were Domitia Lucilla. In 161, when she was between 11 and 13 years old, Lucillas father arranged a marriage for her with his co-ruler Lucius Verus, Verus,18 years her senior, became her husband three years later in Ephesus in 164. At this marriage she received her title of Augusta and became a Roman Empress, at the same time, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus were fighting a Parthian war in Syria. Lucilla and Lucius Verus had three children, Aurelia Lucilla was born in 165 in Antioch Lucilla Plautia Lucius Verus Aurelia, Lucilla was an influential and respectable woman and she enjoyed her status. She spent much time in Rome, while Verus was away from Rome much of the time, Lucius Verus died around 168/169 while returning from the war theater in the Danube region, and as a result, Lucilla lost her status as Empress. They married nonetheless and, about a later, in 170. The change meant that any hope of Lucilla becoming Empress again was lost and she, Lucilla was not happy living the quiet life of a private citizen in Rome, and hated her sister-in-law Bruttia Crispina. Over time, Lucilla became very concerned with her brother Commodus erratic behaviour, in light of her brothers unstable rule, in 182 Lucilla became involved in a plot to assassinate Commodus and replace him with her husband and herself as the new rulers of Rome. Quintianus’ nephew, brandishing a dagger or sword, bungled the assassination attempt trying to kill Commodus. As he burst forth from his place to commit the deed, he boasted to Commodus Here is what the Senate sends to you. Commoduss guards were faster than Quintianus and the assassin was overpowered and disarmed without injuring the emperor. Commodus ordered the deaths of Quintianus’ nephew and of Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus and he sent a centurion there to execute them later that year. Her son Pompeianus was later murdered by Caracalla, in the 1964 film The Fall of the Roman Empire, Lucilla was played by Sophia Loren. In the 2000 film Gladiator, Lucilla was played by Connie Nielsen, in the 2016 six-part docuseries Roman Empire, Reign of Blood, Lucilla was played by Tai Berdinner-Blades. List of Roman women Women in Ancient Rome Tyrannicide Balsdon, J. P. V. D, Roman Women, Barnes & Noble Inc,1998. DAmbra, Eve, Roman Women, Cambridge University Press,2006, fraschetti, Augusto, Lappin Linda, Roman Women, University Of Chicago Press,1999

11.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic

12.
Marcus Annius Verus (praetor)
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Marcus Annius Verus was a distinguished Roman politician who lived in the 2nd century, served as a praetor and was the biological father of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. He was the son of Roman Senator Marcus Annius Verus and noblewoman Rupilia Faustina and his brother was the consul Marcus Annius Libo and his sister was Faustina the Elder, wife of Antoninus Pius. He married Domitia Lucilla, the heiress of a family which owned a tile factory. They had two children, Marcus Aurelius, and Annia Cornificia Faustina, Annius Verus died young while he held the office of praetor. Both his children were still infants, the likeliest year of his death is 124. In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius, who was only about 3 years old when his father died, says of him, From what I heard of my father and my memory of him, modesty and manliness

13.
Domitia Lucilla
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Domitia Lucilla Minor, sometimes known as Domitia Calvilla or Lucilla, was a noble Roman woman who lived in the 2nd century. She is best known as the mother of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Lucilla was the daughter of Domitia Lucilla Maior and the patrician Publius Domitius Calvisius Tullus Ruso and was a niece to Lucanus Domitius. The maternal grandfather of the younger Lucilla, Lucius Catilius Severus served as twice consul, Lucilla’s father served as consul in AD109 and the date of his second consulship is unknown. Lucilla through her mother had inherited a fortune, which included a tile and brick factory near Rome. Lucilla married Marcus Annius Verus, a praetor, who came from a senatorial family. Verus sister Faustina the Elder was a Roman Empress and married the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, Verus was a nephew to Roman Empress Vibia Sabina and his maternal grandmother was Salonina Matidia. With Verus, they had two children, a son, the future Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and a daughter Annia Cornificia Faustina and her children were raised by herself and they were adopted by her father-in-law. Marcus Aurelius would later inherit the tile and brick factory, in Lucilla’s household, the future Roman Emperor Didius Julianus was educated and through her support he was able to start his legal career. Lucilla was a lady of wealth and influence. In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius describes her as a ‘pious and generous’ person and she spent her final years living with her son in Rome. Roman Coinage of Domitia Lucilla Marble portraits of Domitia Lucilla, under the heading for Marcus Aurelius

14.
Stoicism
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Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished throughout the Roman and Greek world until the 3rd century AD. Stoicism is predominantly a philosophy of ethics which is informed by its system of logic. It was founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early 3rd century BC. Because of this, the Stoics presented their philosophy as a way of life, to live a good life, one had to understand the rules of the natural order since they taught that everything was rooted in nature. Later Stoics—such as Seneca and Epictetus—emphasized that, because virtue is sufficient for happiness, from its founding, Stoic doctrine was popular during the Roman Empire—and its adherents included the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It later experienced a decline after Christianity became the religion in the 4th century. Over the centuries, it has seen revivals, notably in the Renaissance, the Stoics provided a unified account of the world, consisting of formal logic, monistic physics and naturalistic ethics. Of these, they emphasized ethics as the focus of human knowledge. A primary aspect of Stoicism involves improving the individuals ethical and moral well-being and this viewpoint was later described as Classical Pantheism. Beginning at around 301 BC, Zeno taught philosophy at the Stoa Poikile, Zenos ideas developed from those of the Cynics, whose founding father, Antisthenes, had been a disciple of Socrates. Zenos most influential follower was Chrysippus, who was responsible for the molding of what is now called Stoicism, later Roman Stoics focused on promoting a life in harmony within the universe, over which one has no direct control. Scholars usually divide the history of Stoicism into three phases, Early Stoa, from the founding of the school by Zeno to Antipater, middle Stoa, including Panaetius and Posidonius. Late Stoa, including Musonius Rufus, Seneca, Epictetus, no complete work by any Stoic philosopher survives from the first two phases of Stoicism. Only Roman texts from the Late Stoa survive, diodorus Cronus, who was one of Zenos teachers, is considered the philosopher who first introduced and developed an approach to logic now known as propositional logic. This is an approach to logic based on statements or propositions, rather than terms, later, Chrysippus developed a system that became known as Stoic logic and included a deductive system, Stoic Syllogistic, which was considered a rival to Aristotles Syllogistic. New interest in Stoic logic came in the 20th century, when important developments in logic were based on propositional logic, susanne Bobzien wrote, The many close similarities between Chrysippus philosophical logic and that of Gottlob Frege are especially striking. The Stoics held that all being – though not all things – is material and they accepted the distinction between concrete bodies and abstract ones, but rejected Aristotles belief that purely incorporeal being exists. Thus, they accepted Anaxagoras idea that if an object is hot, but, unlike Aristotle, they extended the idea to cover all accidents

15.
Meditations
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Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek as a source for his own guidance and it is possible that large portions of the work were written at Sirmium, where he spent much time planning military campaigns from 170 to 180. It is unlikely that Marcus Aurelius ever intended the writings to be published and these writings take the form of quotations varying in length from one sentence to long paragraphs. The Meditations is divided into 12 books that chronicle different periods of Marcuss life, each book is not in chronological order and it was written for no one but himself. The style of writing that permeates the text is one that is simplified, straightforward, depending on the English translation, Marcuss style is not viewed as anything regal or belonging to royalty, but rather a man among other men which allows the reader to relate to his wisdom. A central theme to Meditations is the importance of analyzing ones judgment of self and others and he advocates finding ones place in the universe and sees that everything came from nature, and so everything shall return to it in due time. Another strong theme is of maintaining focus and to be without all the while maintaining strong ethical principles such as Being a good man. His Stoic ideas often involve avoiding indulgence in sensory affections, a skill which will free a man from the pains and he claims that the only way a man can be harmed by others is to allow his reaction to overpower him. An order or logos permeates existence, rationality and clear-mindedness allow one to live in harmony with the logos. This allows one to rise above faulty perceptions of good and bad, Marcus Aurelius has been lauded for his capacity to write down what was in his heart just as it was, not obscured by any consciousness of the presence of listeners or any striving after effect. Gilbert Murray compares the work to Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Confessions and St. Augustines Confessions, D. A. Rees calls the Meditations unendingly moving and inspiring, but does not offer them up as works of original philosophy. Bertrand Russell found them contradictory and inconsistent, evidence of an age where even real goods lose their savour. Using Marcus as an example of greater Stoic philosophy, he found their ethical philosophy to contain an element of sour grapes. We cant be happy, but we can be good, let us therefore pretend that, so long as we are good, both Russell and Rees find an element of Marcus Stoic philosophy in the philosophical system of Immanuel Kant. German philosopher Georg Hegel offers a critique of Stoicism that follows similar lines, in his Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel attacks the preoccupation with the inner self as a severing, fatalistic barrier to consciousness. A philosophy that all states of harm or injustice to emotional states could only appear on the scene in a time of universal fear. And philosophy fostered the same spirit, in the Introduction to his 1964 translation of Meditations, the Anglican priest Maxwell Staniforth discussed the profound impact of Stoicism on Christianity. Michael Grant called Marcus Aurelius the noblest of all the men who, by intelligence and force of character, have prized and achieved goodness for its own sake

16.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor

17.
Parthian Empire
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The Parthian Empire, also known as the Arsacid Empire, was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran and Iraq. Mithridates I of Parthia greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids, at its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to eastern Iran. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han Empire of China, became a center of trade and commerce. The Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and royal insignia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persian, Hellenistic, and regional cultures. For about the first half of its existence, the Arsacid court adopted elements of Greek culture, the court did appoint a small number of satraps, largely outside Iran, but these satrapies were smaller and less powerful than the Achaemenid potentates. With the expansion of Arsacid power, the seat of government shifted from Nisa to Ctesiphon along the Tigris. The earliest enemies of the Parthians were the Seleucids in the west, however, as Parthia expanded westward, they came into conflict with the Kingdom of Armenia, and eventually the late Roman Republic. Rome and Parthia competed with other to establish the kings of Armenia as their subordinate clients. The Parthians soundly defeated Marcus Licinius Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, however, Mark Antony led a counterattack against Parthia, although his successes were generally achieved in his absence, under the leadership of his lieutenant Ventidius. Also, various Roman emperors or their appointed generals invaded Mesopotamia in the course of the several Roman-Parthian Wars which ensued during the few centuries. The Romans captured the cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon on multiple occasions during these conflicts, native Parthian sources, written in Parthian, Greek and other languages, are scarce when compared to Sassanid and even earlier Achaemenid sources. These include mainly Greek and Roman histories, but also Chinese histories, Parthian artwork is viewed by historians as a valid source for understanding aspects of society and culture that are otherwise absent in textual sources. The Parni most likely spoke an eastern Iranian language, in contrast to the northwestern Iranian language spoken at the time in Parthia, the latter was a northeastern province, first under the Achaemenid, and then the Seleucid empires. Why the Arsacid court retroactively chose 247 BC as the first year of the Arsacid era is uncertain, Bivar concludes that this was the year the Seleucids lost control of Parthia to Andragoras, the appointed satrap who rebelled against them. Hence, Arsaces I backdated his regnal years to the moment when Seleucid control over Parthia ceased, however, Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis asserts that this was simply the year Arsaces was made chief of the Parni tribe. It is unclear who immediately succeeded Arsaces I, Bivar and Katouzian affirm that it was his brother Tiridates I of Parthia, who in turn was succeeded by his son Arsaces II of Parthia in 211 BC. Yet Curtis and Brosius state that Arsaces II was the successor of Arsaces I, with Curtis claiming the succession took place in 211 BC. Bivar insists that 138 BC, the last regnal year of Mithridates I, is the first precisely established regnal date of Parthian history, due to these and other discrepancies, Bivar outlines two distinct royal chronologies accepted by historians

18.
Ctesiphon
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Ctesiphon was an ancient city located on the eastern bank of Tigris, and about 35 kilometres southeast of present day Baghdad. It became the capital of the Parthian Empire in about 58 BC, Ctesiphon developed into a rich commercial metropolis, merging with the surrounding cities along both shores of the river, including the Hellenistic city of Seleucia. Ctesiphon and its environs were therefore referred to as the cities. In the late sixth and early seventh century, it was one of the largest cities in the world, during the Roman–Persian Wars, Ctesiphon fell four times to the Romans, and later once during Sasanian rule. It was also the site of the Battle of Ctesiphon, in which Emperor Julian was killed in action, after the Muslim invasion the city fell into decay and was depopulated by the end of the 8th century. The most conspicuous structure remaining today is the archway of Ctesiphon. In Iranian-language texts of the Sasanian era, it is spelled as tyspwn, the New Persian form is Tisfun. Texts from the Assyrian Church of the Easts synods referred to the city as Qṭēspōn or some times Māḥôzē when referring to the metropolis of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, in modern Arabic, the name is usually Ṭaysafūn or Qaṭaysfūn or as al-Madain. According to Yāqūt, quoting Ḥamza, the form was Ṭūsfūn or Tūsfūn. The Armenian name of the city was Tizbon, Ctesiphon is first mentioned in the Book of Ezra of the Old Testament as Kasfia/Casphia. Ctesiphon is located approximately at Al-Madain,32 km southeast of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. Ctesiphon measured 30 square kilometers, more than twice the surface of 13. 7-square-kilometer fourth-century Imperial Rome, the archway of Chosroes was once a part of the royal palace in Ctesiphon and is estimated to date between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD. It is located in what is now the Iraqi town of Salman Pak, Ctesiphon was founded in the late 120s BC. It was built on the site of a camp established across from Seleucia by Mithridates I of Parthia. The reign of Gotarzes I saw Ctesiphon reach a peak as a political and commercial center, the city became the Empires capital circa 58 BC during the reign of Orodes II. Gradually, the city merged with the old Hellenistic capital of Seleucia, the reason for this westward relocation of the capital could have been in part due to the proximity of the previous capitals to the Scythian incursions. Nearby is situated a village called Ctesiphon, a large village, because of its importance, Ctesiphon was a major military objective for the leaders of the Roman Empire in their eastern wars. The city was captured by Rome five times in its history – three times in the 2nd century alone, the emperor Trajan captured Ctesiphon in 116, but his successor, Hadrian, decided to willingly return Ctesiphon in 117 as part of a peace settlement

19.
Marcomanni
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According to Tacitus and Strabo they were Suebian. It is believed their name derives possibly from the Proto-Germanic forms of march and men, *Markōmanniz, the Marcomanni first appear in historical records as confederates of the Suebi of Ariovistus fighting against Julius Caesar in Gaul, having crossed the Rhine from present-day southern Germany. The exact position of their lands at this time is not known, the fact that their name existed before the Romans had territory near the Danube or Rhine raises the question of which border they lived near in order to explain their name. It has been suggested that they may have lived near the conjunction of Rhine and this was described as being within the Hercynian forest and was possibly in the region of modern Bohemia, although this is not certain. By 6 BC, their king, Maroboduus, had established a kingdom there that Augustus perceived as a threat to Rome. Before he could act, however, the revolt in Illyria intervened, eventually Maroboduus was deposed and exiled by Catualda. Catualda was in turn deposed by Vibilius of the Hermunduri the same year, around 50 AD, Vannius was himself also deposed by Vibilius, in coordination with his nephews Vangio and Sido. Tacitus, in the late 1st century mentions the Marcomanni as being under kings appointed by Rome, in the 2nd century AD, the Marcomanni entered into a confederation with other peoples including the Quadi, Vandals, and Sarmatians, against the Roman Empire. This was probably driven by movements of larger tribes, like the Goths, according to the historian Eutropius, the forces of the emperor, Marcus Aurelius, battled against the Marcomannic confederation for three years at the fortress of Carnuntum in Pannonia. Eutropius compared the war, and Aureliuss success against the Marcomanni and their allies, the comparison was apt in that this war marked a turning point and had significant Roman defeats, it caused the death of two Praetorian Guard commanders. The war lasted until Aureliuss death in 180 and it would prove to be only a limited success for Rome, the Danube river remained as the frontier of the empire until the final fall of the West. The Christianisation of the Marcomanni, at least into a Roman orthodox form of Christianity, seems to have occurred under their queen and she corresponded with Ambrose of Milan to bring about the conversion. This was the last clear evidence of the Marcomanni having a polity and it was possibly on the Roman side of the Danube by this time. Soon after, the Pannonian and Danubian area went into a period of turmoil. These Suevi were probably a mix of Suevian groups from the north of Danube and Pannonian basin such as the Marcomanni, Quadi. There, Hermeric swore fealty to the emperor in 410, bracara Augusta, the modern city of Braga in Portugal, previously the capital of Roman Gallaecia, now became the capital of the Suebic Kingdom. The Danubian area meanwhile became the core of Attila the Huns empire, one group of them managed to reform into an independent group after the Battle of Nedao in 454, like many other groups who emerged from Attilas confederation. These Suevi eventually came into conflict with the Ostrogoths, who had been on the side at Nadao

20.
Quadi
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The Quadi were a Suebian Germanic tribe who lived approximately in the area of modern Moravia in the time of the Roman empire. They associated the Quadi with their neighbours the Marcomanni, and described both groups as having entered the region after the Celtic Boii had left it deserted and it is said that the Quadi also lived in the same general region, and were also Suebian Germans, like the Marcomanni. They came to be part of the Marcomannic confederation that fought the future emperor Tiberius in 6 AD, there may be an earlier reference to the Quadi in the Geography of Strabo. In a parenthetical expression, often removed from the text, he mentions a branch of the Suevi called the Koldouoi. Part of their range is Bohemia, the domain of Maroboduus, the emendment of Coldui to Coadui is generally considered correct. Tacitus mentions the Quadi in the breath as the Marcomanni, alike in warlike spirit, alike governed by kings of their own noble stock. The royal powers of both tribes were also alike, according to Tacitus, in being supported by Roman silver, in The Annals, Tacitus writes that Maroboduus was deposed by the exile Catualda around 18 AD. Catualda was in turn defeated by the Hermunduri Vibilius, after which the realm was ruled by the Quadian Vannius, Vannius was himself also deposed by Vibilius, in coordination with his nephews Vangio and Sido, who divided his realm between themselves as Roman client kings. Tacitus writes, Behind them the Marsigni, Gotini, Osi, of these, the Marsigni and Buri, in their language and manner of life, resemble the Suevi. The Gotini and Osi are proved by their respective Gallic and Pannonian tongues, as well as by the fact of their enduring tribute, tribute is imposed on them as aliens, partly by the Sarmatæ, partly by the Quadi. The Gotini, to complete their degradation, actually work iron mines, all these nations occupy but little of the plain country, dwelling in forests and on mountain-tops. These Gotini, or Cotini, are mentioned in other Roman sources. In the later 2nd century AD, Marcus Aurelius fought them in the Marcomannic Wars, the troubles began in late 166 when the Langobardi and Obii crossed the Danube into Roman Moesia. They must have done so with the consent of the Quadi, presumably, the Quadi wished to avoid trouble themselves by allowing these tribes to pass through into Roman territory. After initial Roman losses, the Marcomanni were defeated in 171, but in 172, he launched a major attack into the territory of the Marcomanni, and then turned on the Quadi, who had been aiding Marcomanni refugees. In a major battle in that year, his troops were almost defeated, the Quadi were ultimately eliminated as a direct threat in 174. Marcus planned counteroffensive across the Danube was prevented in 175, however, though Marcus Aurelius successfully suppressed the revolt, it was not until 178 that he was able to pursue the Quadi over the Danube into Bohemia. He executed a successful and decisive battle against them in 179 at Laugaricio Trenčín - Slovakia under the command of legate and he was planning to advance the Roman border east and north to the Carpathian Mountains and Bohemia when he became ill and died in 180

21.
Sarmatians
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The Sarmatians were a large confederation of Iranian people during classical antiquity, flourishing from about the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD. They spoke Scythian, an Indo-European language from the Eastern Iranian family and their territory, which was known as Sarmatia to Greco-Roman ethnographers, corresponded to the western part of greater Scythia. In the 1st century AD the Sarmatians began encroaching upon the Roman Empire in alliance with Germanic tribes, in the 3rd century AD their dominance of the Pontic Steppe was broken by the Germanic Goths. With the Hunnic invasions of the 4th century, many Sarmatians joined the Goths, a related people to the Sarmatians known as the Alans survived in the North Caucasus into the Early Middle Ages, ultimately giving rise to the modern Ossetic ethnic group. The Sarmatians were eventually assimilated and absorbed by the Proto-Slavic population of Eastern Europe. Sarmatae probably originated as just one of several names of the Sarmatians. Strabo in the 1st century names as the tribes of the Sarmatians the Iazyges, the Roxolani, the Aorsi. The Greek name Sarmatai sometimes appears as Sauromatai, which is almost certainly no more than a variant of the same name, nevertheless, historians often regarded these as two separate peoples, while archaeologists habitually use the term Sauromatian to identify the earliest phase of Sarmatian culture. Any idea that the name derives from the lizard, linking to the Sarmatians use of reptile-like scale armour. Both Pliny the Elder and Jordanes recognised the Sar- and Sauro- elements as interchangeable variants, Greek authors of the 4th century mention Syrmatae as the name of a people living at the Don, perhaps reflecting the ethnonym as it was pronounced in the final phase of Sarmatian culture. Oleg Trubachyov derived the name from the Indo-Aryan *sar-mat, the Indo-Aryan and Indo-Iranian word *sar-, by this derivation was noted the unusual high status of women from the Greek point of view and went to the invention of Amazons. Other scholars, like Harold Walter Bailey, derived the word from Avestan sar- from tsar- in Old Iranian. It was also derived from the name of Avestan region in the west Sairima, recently R. M. Kozlova derived it from *Sъrm- < Proto-Slavic adjective *sъrmatъ, with the meaning that is rich with sormima i. e. shallows, referring to the rivers. The Sarmatians emerged in the 7th century BC in a region of the steppe to the east of the Don River, for centuries they lived in relatively peaceful co-existence with their western neighbors the Scythians. Then, in the 3rd century BC, they fought with the Scythians on the Pontic steppe to the north of the Black Sea, the Sarmatians were to dominate these territories over the next five centuries. Pliny the Elder wrote that they ranged from the Vistula River to the Danube, in 1947, Soviet archaeologist Boris Grakov defined a culture flourishing from the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD, apparent in late kurgan graves, sometimes reusing part of much older kurgans. It was a nomadic steppe culture ranging from the Black Sea eastward to beyond the Volga, in Hungary, a great Late Sarmatian pottery centre was reportedly unearthed between 2001 and 2006 near Budapest, in the Üllő5 archaeological site. Typical grey, granular Üllő5 ceramics form a group of Sarmatian pottery found everywhere in the north central part of the Great Hungarian Plain region

22.
Marcomannic Wars
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The Marcomannic Wars were a series of wars lasting over a dozen years from about 166 until 180 AD. During the years succeeding the rule of Antoninus Pius, the Roman Empire began to be attacked on all sides, a war with Parthia lasted from 161 to 166 and, although it ended successfully, its unforeseen consequences for the Empire were great. The returning troops brought with them a plague, which would kill an estimated 5 million people. As a result, Germanic tribes and other nomadic peoples launched raids south and west across Romes northern border, particularly into Gaul, beginning in 162 and continuing until 165, an invasion of Chatti and Chauci in the provinces of Raetia and Germania Superior was repulsed. In late 166 or early 167, a force of 6,000 Langobardi and this invasion was defeated by local forces with relative ease, but they marked the beginning of what was to come. In their aftermath, the governor of Pannonia, Marcus Iallius Bassus. In these negotiations, the Marcomannic king Ballomar, a Roman client, in the event, a truce was agreed upon and the tribes withdrew from Roman territory, but no permanent agreement was reached. In the same year, Vandals and the Sarmatian Iazyges invaded Dacia, to counter them, Legio V Macedonica, a veteran of the Parthian campaign, was moved from Moesia Inferior to Dacia Superior, closer to the enemy. During that time, as plague was ravaging the empire, Marcus Aurelius was unable to do more, in the spring of that year, Marcus Aurelius, together with Lucius Verus set forth from Rome, and established their headquarters at Aquileia. The two emperors supervised a reorganization of the defences of Italy and the Illyricum, raised two new legions, Legio II Italica and Legio III Italica, and crossed the Alps into Pannonia. The two emperors returned to Aquileia for the winter, but on the way, in January 169, Marcus returned to Rome to oversee his co-emperors funeral. In the autumn of 169, Marcus set out from Rome, together with his son-in-law Claudius Pompeianus, the Romans had gathered their forces and intended to subdue the independent tribes, who lived between the Danube and the Roman province of Dacia. The Iazyges defeated and killed Claudius Fronto, Roman governor of Lower Moesia, however, while the Roman army was entangled in this campaign, making little headway, several tribes used the opportunity to cross the frontier and raid Roman territory. To the east, the Costoboci crossed the Danube, ravaged Thrace and descended into the Balkans, reaching Eleusis, near Athens, the most important and dangerous invasion, however, was that of the Marcomanni in the west. Their leader, Ballomar, had formed a coalition of Germanic tribes and they crossed the Danube and won a decisive victory over a force of 20,000 Roman soldiers near Carnuntum. Ballomar then led the larger part of his host southwards towards Italy, the Marcomanni razed Opitergium and besieged Aquileia. This was the first time hostile forces had entered Italy since 101 BC. The army of praetorian prefect Furius Victorinus tried to relieve the city, there is no consensus amongst scholars as to the year that the great Gemanic invasion towards Aquileia took place

23.
Germanic peoples
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The Germanic peoples are an ethno-linguistic Indo-European group of Northern European origin. They are identified by their use of Germanic languages, which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, the term Germanic originated in classical times when groups of tribes living in Lower, Upper, and Greater Germania were referred to using this label by Roman scribes. Tribes referred to as Germanic by Roman authors generally lived to the north, in about 222 BCE, the first use of the Latin term Germani appears in the Fasti Capitolini inscription de Galleis Insvbribvs et Germ. This may simply be referring to Gaul or related people, the term Germani shows up again, allegedly written by Poseidonios, but is merely a quotation inserted by the author Athenaios who wrote much later. Somewhat later, the first surviving detailed discussions of Germani and Germania are those of Julius Caesar, from Caesars perspective, Germania was a geographical area of land on the east bank of the Rhine opposite Gaul, which Caesar left outside direct Roman control. This usage of the word is the origin of the concept of Germanic languages. In other classical authors the concept sometimes included regions of Sarmatia, also, at least in the south there were Celtic peoples still living east of the Rhine and north of the Alps. Caesar, Tacitus and others noted differences of culture which could be found on the east of the Rhine, but the theme of all these cultural references was that this was a wild and dangerous region, less civilised than Gaul, a place that required additional military vigilance. Caesar used the term Germani for a specific tribal grouping in northeastern Belgic Gaul, west of the Rhine. He made clear that he was using the name in the local sense and these are the so-called Germani Cisrhenani, whom Caesar believed to be closely related to the peoples east of the Rhine, and descended from immigrants into Gaul. Caesar described this group of both as Belgic Gauls and as Germani. Gauls are associated with Celtic languages, and the term Germani is associated with Germanic languages, but Caesar did not discuss languages in detail. It has been claimed, for example by Maurits Gysseling, that the names of this region show evidence of an early presence of Germanic languages. The etymology of the word Germani is uncertain, the likeliest theory so far proposed is that it comes from a Gaulish compound of *ger near + *mani men, comparable to Welsh ger near, Old Irish gair neighbor, Irish gar- near, garach neighborly. Another Celtic possibility is that the name meant noisy, cf. Breton/Cornish garm shout, however, here the vowel does not match, nor does the vowel length ). Others have proposed a Germanic etymology *gēr-manni, spear men, cf. Middle Dutch ghere, Old High German Ger, Old Norse geirr. However, the form gēr seems far too advanced phonetically for the 1st century, has a vowel where a short one is expected. The term Germani, therefore, probably applied to a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul who may or may not have spoken a Germanic language

24.
Christian
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A Christian is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christian derives from the Koine Greek word Christós, a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach, while there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict, they are united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance. The term Christian is also used as an adjective to describe anything associated with Christianity, or in a sense all that is noble, and good. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, by 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey Christianity will remain the worlds largest religion in 2050, about half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic, while more than a third are Protestant. Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the worlds Christians, other Christian groups make up the remainder. Christians make up the majority of the population in 158 countries and territories,280 million Christian live as a minority. In the Greek Septuagint, christos was used to translate the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ, in other European languages, equivalent words to Christian are likewise derived from the Greek, such as Chrétien in French and Cristiano in Spanish. The second mention of the term follows in Acts 26,28, where Herod Agrippa II replied to Paul the Apostle, Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. The third and final New Testament reference to the term is in 1 Peter 4,16, which believers, Yet if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. The city of Antioch, where someone gave them the name Christians, had a reputation for coming up with such nicknames, in the Annals he relates that by vulgar appellation commonly called Christians and identifies Christians as Neros scapegoats for the Great Fire of Rome. Another term for Christians which appears in the New Testament is Nazarenes which is used by the Jewish lawyer Tertullus in Acts 24, the Hebrew equivalent of Nazarenes, Notzrim, occurs in the Babylonian Talmud, and is still the modern Israeli Hebrew term for Christian. A wide range of beliefs and practices is found across the world among those who call themselves Christian, denominations and sects disagree on a common definition of Christianity. Most Baptists and fundamentalists, for example, would not acknowledge Mormonism or Christian Science as Christian, in fact, the nearly 77 percent of Americans who self-identify as Christian are a diverse pluribus of Christianities that are far from any collective unity. The identification of Jesus as the Messiah is not accepted by Judaism, the term for a Christian in Hebrew is נוּצְרי, a Talmudic term originally derived from the fact that Jesus came from the Galilean village of Nazareth, today in northern Israel. Adherents of Messianic Judaism are referred to in modern Hebrew as יְהוּדִים מָשִׁיחַיים, the term Nasara rose to prominence in July 2014, after the Fall of Mosul to the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The nun or ن— the first letter of Nasara—was spray-painted on the property of Christians ejected from the city, where there is a distinction, Nasrani refers to people from a Christian culture and Masihi is used by Christians themselves for those with a religious faith in Jesus. In some countries Nasrani tends to be used generically for non-Muslim Western foreigners, another Arabic word sometimes used for Christians, particularly in a political context, is Ṣalībī from ṣalīb which refers to Crusaders and has negative connotations

25.
Pax Romana
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During this time, the Roman empire reached its peak land mass area and its population grew up to 70 million people. Since it was established by Augustus, it is sometimes called Pax Augusta and its span was approximately 206 years. The Pax Romana is said to have been a miracle because prior to it there had never been peace for so many centuries in a period of history. However, Walter Goffart wrote, The volume of the Cambridge Ancient History for the years A. D. 70–192 is called The Imperial Peace, but peace is not what one finds in its pages. Arthur M. Eckstein writes that the period must be seen in contrast to the more frequent warfare in the Roman Republic in the 4th. The first known record of the term Pax Romana appears in a writing by Seneca the Younger in 55 AD, the concept was highly influential, and the subject of theories and attempts to copy it in subsequent ages. Arnaldo Momigliano noted that Pax Romana is a formula for propaganda. The Pax Romana began when Octavian defeated Marc Antony in the Battle of Actium on 2 September 31 BC and he became princeps, or first citizen. Lacking a good precedent of successful rule, Augustus created a junta of the greatest military magnates. By binding together these leading magnates in a coalition, he eliminated the prospect of civil war, the Pax Romana was not immediate, despite the end of the civil wars, because fighting continued in Hispania and in the Alps. Nevertheless, Augustus closed the Gates of Janus three times, first in 29 BC and again in 25 BC, the third closure is undocumented, but Inez Scott Ryberg and Gaius Stern have persuasively dated the third closure to 13 BC with the commissioning of the Ara Pacis. At the time of the Ludi Saeculares in 17 BC the concept of Peace was publicized, the order to construct the Ara Pacis was no doubt part of this announcement. Augustus faced a problem making peace an acceptable mode of life for the Romans, Romans regarded peace not as an absence of war, but the rare situation which existed when all opponents had been beaten down and lost the ability to resist. Augustus succeeded by means of skillful propaganda, after Augustus died in 14 AD many other Roman emperors ruled during this time. One of which named Caligula ruled from 37 AD to 41 AD, Caligula was considered a vicious sadist and sexually perverse who eventually was assassinated by his own guards. The last five emperors of the Pax Romana were considered the Five Good Emperors, such times have been credited to the British Empire during the 19th century. Some variants include, More generically, the concept has been referred to as pax imperia, meaning imperial peace, raymond Aron notes that imperial peace—peace achieved through hegemony—sometimes, but not always—can become civil peace. As an example, the German Empires imperial peace of 1871 slowly evolved into the later German state

26.
Fall of the Western Roman Empire
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The Fall of the Western Roman Empire was the process of decline in the Western Roman Empire in which it failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided into several successor polities. Increasing pressure from barbarians outside Roman culture also contributed greatly to the collapse, the reasons for the collapse are major subjects of the historiography of the ancient world and they inform much modern discourse on state failure. Relevant dates include 117 CE, when the Empire was at its greatest territorial extent, irreversible major territorial loss, however, began in 376 with a large-scale irruption of Goths and others. In 395, after winning two destructive civil wars, Theodosius I died, leaving a field army and the Empire, still plagued by Goths. Invading barbarians had established their own power in most of the area of the Western Empire, while its legitimacy lasted for centuries longer and its cultural influence remains today, the Western Empire never had the strength to rise again. The Fall is not the only unifying concept for these events, the Fall of the Western Roman Empire was the process of decline in the Western Roman Empire in which it failed to enforce its rule. The Fall is not the only unifying concept for these events, for Dio Cassius, the accession of the emperor Commodus in 180 CE marked the descent from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron. Gibbon started his story in 98 and Theodor Mommsen regarded the whole of the period as unworthy of inclusion in his Nobel Prize-winning History of Rome. Arnold J. Toynbee and James Burke argue that the entire Imperial era was one of decay of institutions founded in republican times. Gibbon gave a formulation of reasons why the Fall happened. He began a controversy about the role of Christianity, but he gave great weight to other causes of internal decline. The story of its ruin is simple and obvious, and, instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. The victorious legions, who, in distant wars, acquired the vices of strangers and mercenaries, first oppressed the freedom of the republic, alexander Demandt enumerated 210 different theories on why Rome fell, and new ideas have emerged since. Historians still try to analyze the reasons for loss of control over a vast territory. Comparison has also made with the Han Empire in China. At least from the time of Henri Pirenne, scholars have described continuity of culture and of political legitimacy, Pirenne postponed the demise of classical civilization to the 8th century. The more recent formulation of a period characterized as Late Antiquity emphasizes the transformations of ancient to medieval worlds within a cultural continuity. In recent decades archaeologically-based argument even extends the continuity in material culture, observing the political reality of lost control, but also the cultural and archaeological continuities, the process has been described as a complex cultural transformation, rather than a fall

27.
Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius
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The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius is an ancient Roman statue in the Campidoglio, Rome, Italy. It is made of bronze and stands 4.24 m tall, although the emperor is mounted, it exhibits many similarities to standing statues of Augustus. The overall theme is one of power and divine grandeur — the emperor is over life-size and is holding out his hand in a gesture much like that in the Augustus portraits. In this case the gesture may also signify clemency as some historians assert that an enemy may have been sculpted begging for mercy under the horses raised hoof. Such an image was meant to portray the Emperor as victorious, however, shown without weapons or armour, Marcus Aurelius seems to be a bringer of peace rather than a military hero, for this is how he saw himself and his reign. He is riding without the use of stirrups, which had not yet introduced to the West. While the horse has been studied in order to be recreated for other artists works. The statue was erected ca.175 CE and its original location is debated, the Roman Forum and Piazza Colonna have been proposed. Statues were also destroyed because medieval Christians thought that they were pagan idols, the statue of Marcus Aurelius was not melted down because in the Middle Ages it was incorrectly thought to portray the first Christian Emperor, Constantine. Indeed, it is the only surviving bronze statue of a pre-Christian Roman emperor. In the medieval era it was one of the few Roman statues to remain on public view and it was moved to the Piazza del Campidoglio during Michelangelos redesign of the Hill. Though he disagreed with its positioning, he designed a special pedestal for it. The original is on display in the Palazzo dei Conservatori of the Musei Capitolini, on the night of November 29,1849, at the inception of the revolutionary Roman Republic, a mass procession set up the Red-White-Green tricolore in the hands of the mounted Marcus Aurelius. The statue is depicted on the reverse of the Italian €0.50 euro coin, a replica of the statue has been located on the campus of Brown University in the United States since 1908. The statue was formerly clad in gold, an old local myth says that the statue will turn gold again on the Judgement Day. The Monument to Prince Józef Poniatowski in Warsaw, from 1829, was based on this statue

28.
Capitoline Museums
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The Capitoline Museums are a single museum containing a group of art and archeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The history of the museums can be traced to 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV donated a collection of important ancient bronzes to the people of Rome, the museums are owned and operated by the municipality of Rome. The statue of a rider in the centre of the piazza is of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It is a copy, the original being housed on-site in the Capitoline museum. Open to the public in 1734 under Clement XII, the Capitoline Museums are considered the first museum in the world, understood as a place where art could be enjoyed by all and this section contains collections sorted by building, and brief information on the buildings themselves. For the history of their design and construction, see Capitoline Hill#Michelangelo, the Capitoline Museums are composed of three main buildings surrounding the Piazza del Campidoglio and interlinked by an underground gallery beneath the piazza. In addition, the 16th century Palazzo Caffarelli-Clementino, located off the adjacent to the Palazzo dei Conservatori, was added to the museum complex in the early 20th century. The collections here are ancient sculpture, mostly Roman but also Greek, the Conservators Apartment is distinguished by elaborate interior decorations, including frescoes, stuccos, tapestries, and carved ceilings and doors. The third floor of the Palazzo dei Conservatori houses the Capitoline Art Gallery, housing the museums painting, the Capitoline Coin Cabinet, containing collections of coins, medals, jewels, and jewelry, is located in the attached Palazzo Caffarelli-Clementino. Statues, inscriptions, sarcophagi, busts, mosaics, and other ancient Roman artifacts occupy two floors of the Palazzo Nuovo, in the Hall of the Galatian can also be appreciated the marble statue of the Dying Gaul also called “Capitoline Gaul” and the statue of Cupid and Psyche. The gallery was constructed in the 1930s and it contains in situ 2nd century ruins of ancient Roman dwellings, and also houses the Galleria Lapidaria, which displays the Museums collection of epigraphs. The new great glass covered hall — the Sala Marco Aurelio — created by covering the Giardino Romano is similar to the one used for the Sala Ottagonale, the design is by the architect Carlo Aymonino. Its volume recalls that of the oval space designed by Michelangelo for the piazza and its centerpiece is the bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which was once in the centre of Piazza del Campidoglio and has been kept indoors ever since its modern restoration. Moving these statues out of the palazzo allows those sculptures temporarily moved to the Centrale Montemartini to be brought back. The Centrale Montemartini is a power station of Acea in southern Rome. Its permanent collection comprises 400 ancient statues, moved here during the reorganisation of the Capitoline Museums in 1997, along with tombs, busts, many of them were excavated in the ancient Roman horti between the 1890s and 1930s, a fruitful period for Roman archaeology. They are displayed there along the lines of Tate Modern, except that the machinery has not been moved out, Capitoline Brutus Capitoline Museums official website

29.
Denarius
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In the Roman currency system, the dēnārius, plural, dēnāriī was a small silver coin first minted about 211 BC during the Second Punic War. It is the origin of modern words such as the currency name dinar, it is also the origin for the common noun for money in Italian denaro, in Portuguese dinheiro. Its symbol is X̶, a x with stroke. A predecessor of the denarius was first struck in 267 BC, five years before the first Punic War with a weight of 6.81 grams. Contact with the Greeks prompted a need for coinage in addition to the bronze currency that the Romans were using during that time. The predecessor of the denarius was a Greek-styled silver coin, very similar to the didrachm and drachma struck in Metapontion and these coins were inscribed for Rome but closely resemble their Greek counterparts. They were most likely used for purposes and were seldom used in Rome. The first distinctively Roman silver coin appeared around 226 BC, Rome overhauled its coinage around 211 BC and introduced the denarius alongside a short-lived denomination called the victoriatus. This denarius contained an average 4.5 grams, or 1⁄72 of a Roman pound of silver and it formed the backbone of Roman currency throughout the Roman republic. The denarius began to undergo slow debasement toward the end of the republican period, under the rule of Augustus, its silver content fell to 3.9 grams. It remained at nearly this weight until the time of Nero, debasement of the coins silver content continued after Nero. Later Roman emperors reduced its content to 3 grams around the third century. The value at its introduction was 10 asses, giving the denarius its name, in about 141 BC, it was re-tariffed at 16 asses, to reflect the decrease in weight of the as. The denarius continued to be the coin of the Roman Empire until it was replaced by the antoninianus in the middle of the third century. The last issuance of this occurred in bronze form by Aurelian. For more details, see Denarius, in A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins, the denarius has a link from the Roman times to the British penny and US1 cent piece. It is difficult to give even rough comparative values for money from before the 20th century, as the range of products and services available for purchase was different. Classical historians often say that in the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire the daily wage for an unskilled laborer and common soldier was 1 denarius or about US$2. 8$ in bread

30.
Hadrian
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Hadrian was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He is known for building Hadrians Wall, which marked the limit of Britannia. He also rebuilt the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus, philhellene in most of his tastes, he is considered by some to have been a humanist, and he is regarded as the third of the Five Good Emperors. Hadrian was born Publius Aelius Hadrianus into a Hispano-Roman family, although Italica near Santiponce is often considered his birthplace, his actual place of birth remains uncertain. It is generally accepted that he came from a family with roots in Hispania. His predecessor, Trajan, was a cousin of Hadrians father. Trajan did not designate an heir officially, but according to his wife Pompeia Plotina, Trajans wife and his friend Licinius Sura were well disposed towards Hadrian, and he may well have owed his succession to them. During his reign, Hadrian travelled to every province of the Empire. An ardent admirer of Greece, he sought to make Athens the cultural capital of the Empire and he used his relationship with his Greek lover Antinous to underline his philhellenism, and this led to the establishment of one of the most popular cults of ancient times. Hadrian spent a deal of time with the military, he usually wore military attire and even dined. He ordered rigorous military training and drilling and made use of reports of attacks to keep the army on alert. On his accession to the throne, Hadrian withdrew from Trajans conquests in Mesopotamia, Assyria and Armenia, late in his reign he suppressed the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judaea, renaming the province Syria Palaestina. In 138 Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius on the condition that he adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as his own heirs and they would eventually succeed Antoninus as co-emperors. Hadrian died the year at Baiae. In Hadrians time, there was already an established convention that one could not write a contemporary Roman imperial history for fear of competing with the emperors themselves. Information on the history of Hadrians reign comes mostly from later. A general account of his reign is Book 69 of the early 3rd century Roman History by Cassius Dio and his original Greek text of this book is lost, what survives is a brief, much later, Byzantine-era abridgment by the 11th century monk Xiphilinius. He selected from Dios account of Hadrians reign based on his religious interests

31.
Bithynian
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Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast along the Pontic coast, Bithynia was an independent kingdom from the 4th century BC. Its capital Nicomedia was rebuilt on the site of ancient Astacus in 264 BC by Nicomedes I of Bithynia. Bithynia fell to the Roman Republic in 74 BC, and became united with the Pontus region as the province of Bithynia et Pontus and it became a border region to the Seljuk Empire in the 13th century, and was eventually conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 1330s. Several major cities sat on the shores of the Propontis, Nicomedia, Chalcedon, Cius. Bithynia also contained Nicaea, noted for being the birthplace of the Nicene Creed, on the west and southwest it was separated from Mysia by the river Rhyndacus and on the south it adjoined Phrygia and Galatia. It is occupied by mountains and forests, but has valleys, the most important mountain range is the Mysian Olympus, which towers above Bursa and is clearly visible as far away as Istanbul. Its summits are covered with snow for a part of the year. East of this the range extends for more than 100 miles, both of these ranges are part of the border of mountains which bound the great tableland of Anatolia, Turkey. At its extremity is situated the town of Gemlik at the mouth of a valley, communicating with the lake of Iznik. The Parthenius, the boundary of the province, is a much less considerable stream. The valleys towards the Black Sea abound in fruit trees of all kinds, such as oranges, while the valley of the Sangarius, extensive plantations of mulberry trees supply the silk for which Bursa has long been celebrated, and which is manufactured there on a large scale. Bithynia is named for the Thracian tribe of the Bithyni, mentioned by Herodotus alongside the Thyni, the Thraco-Phrygian migration from the Balkans to Asia Minor would have taken place at some point following the Bronze Age collapse or during the early Iron Age. Herodotus mentions the Thyni and Bithyni as settling side by side, but the last king, Nicomedes IV, was unable to maintain himself in power against Mithridates VI of Pontus. After being restored to his throne by the Roman Senate, he bequeathed his kingdom through his will to the Roman republic, the coinage of these kings show their regal portraits, which tend to be engraved in an extremely accomplished Hellenistic style. As a Roman province, the boundaries of Bithynia changed frequently, during this period, Bithynia was commonly united for administrative purposes with the province of Pontus. Under the Byzantine Empire, Bithynia was again divided into two provinces, separated by the Sangarius, only the area to the west of the river retained the name of Bithynia. Bithynia attracted much attention because of its roads and its position between the frontiers of the Danube in the north and the Euphrates in the south-east

32.
Nicaea
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The ancient city is located within the modern Turkish city of İznik, and is situated in a fertile basin at the eastern end of Lake Ascanius, bounded by ranges of hills to the north and south. It is situated with its west wall rising from the lake itself, the lake is large enough that it could not be blockaded from the land easily, and the city was large enough to make any attempt to reach the harbour from shore-based siege weapons very difficult. The ancient city is surrounded on all sides by 5 kilometres of walls about 10 metres high and these are in turn surrounded by a double ditch on the land portions, and also included over 100 towers in various locations. Large gates on the three sides of the walls provided the only entrance to the city. Today the walls have been pierced in places for roads. The later version however was not widespread even in Antiquity, Antigonus is also known to have established Bottiaean soldiers in the vicinity, lending credence to the tradition about the citys founding by Bottiaeans. Following Antigonus defeat and death at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, the city was captured by Lysimachus, who renamed it Nicaea, in tribute to his wife Nicaea, who had recently died. Sometime before 280 BC, the city came under the control of the dynasty of the kings of Bithynia. This marks the beginning of its rise to prominence as a seat of the royal court, the two cities dispute over which one was the pre-eminent city of Bithynia continued for centuries, and the 38th oration of Dio Chrysostom was expressly composed to settle the dispute. Along with the rest of Bithynia, Nicaea came under the rule of the Roman Republic in 72 BC. The geographer Strabo described the city as built in the typical Hellenistic fashion with great regularity, in the form of a square, measuring 16 stadia in circumference, i. e. approx. This monument stood in the gymnasium, which was destroyed by fire but was restored with increased magnificence by Pliny the Younger, in his writings Pliny makes frequent mention of Nicaea and its public buildings. Emperor Hadrian visited the city in 123 AD after it had been damaged by an earthquake. The new city was enclosed by a wall of some 5 kilometres in length. Reconstruction was not completed until the 3rd century, and the new set of walls failed to save Nicaea from being sacked by the Goths in 258 AD, by the 4th century, Nicaea was a large and prosperous city, and a major military and administrative centre. Emperor Constantine the Great convened the First Ecumenical Council there, the city remained important in the 4th century, seeing the proclamation of Emperor Valens and the failed rebellion of Procopius. During the same period, the See of Nicaea became independent of Nicomedia and was raised to the status of a metropolitan bishopric, many of its grand civic buildings began to fall into ruin, and had to be restored in the 6th century by Emperor Justinian I. Nicaea became the capital of the Opsician Theme in the 8th century and remained a center of administration, a Jewish community is attested in the city in the 10th century

33.
Galen
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Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus, often Anglicized as Galen and better known as Galen of Pergamon, was a prominent Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. The son of Aelius Nicon, an architect with scholarly interests, Galen received a comprehensive education that prepared him for a successful career as a physician. Galens understanding of anatomy and medicine was influenced by the then-current theory of humorism. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for more than 1,300 years, Medical students continued to study Galens writings until well into the 19th century. Galen saw himself as both a physician and a philosopher, as he wrote in his treatise entitled That the Best Physician is Also a Philosopher. Many of his works have been preserved and/or translated from the original Greek, although many were destroyed, although there is some debate over the date of his death, he was no younger than seventy when he died. In medieval Europe, Galens writings on anatomy became the mainstay of the medieval university curriculum. Some of Galens ideas were incorrect, he did not dissect a human body, Galens original Greek texts gained renewed prominence during the early modern period. In the 1530s, Belgian anatomist and physician Andreas Vesalius took on a project to many of Galens Greek texts into Latin. Vesaliuss most famous work, De humani corporis fabrica, was influenced by Galenic writing. Galens name Γαληνός, Galēnos comes from the adjective γαληνός, calm, Galen describes his early life in On the affections of the mind. Galen describes his father as an amiable, just, good. His studies also took in each of the philosophical systems of the time. His father had planned a career for Galen in philosophy or politics and took care to expose him to literary. However, Galen states that in around AD145 his father had a dream in which the god Asclepius appeared and commanded Nicon to send his son to study medicine, there he came under the influence of men like Aeschrion of Pergamon, Stratonicus and Satyrus. Asclepiea functioned as spas or sanitoria to which the sick would come to seek the ministrations of the priesthood, romans frequented the temple at Pergamon in search of medical relief from illness and disease. It was also the haunt of notable people such as Claudius Charax the historian, Aelius Aristides the orator, Polemo the sophist, in 148, when he was 19, his father died, leaving him independently wealthy. In 157, aged 28, he returned to Pergamon as physician to the gladiators of the High Priest of Asia, one of the most influential and wealthy men in Asia

34.
Aelius Aristides
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More than fifty of his orations and other works survive, dating from the reigns of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. In later life he resumed his career as an orator, achieving notable success that Philostratus would declare that “Aristides was of all the sophists most deeply versed in his art. ”Aristides was born at Hadriani in northern Mysia. His father, a landowner, arranged for Aristides to have the finest education available. Aristides first studied under Alexander of Cotiaeum at Smyrna, then traveled to cities to learn from the foremost sophists of the day. The capstone of his education was a trip to Egypt in 141 CE, along the way he began his career as an orator, declaiming at Cos, Cnidis, Rhodes, and Alexandria. His travels in Egypt included a journey upriver in hopes of finding the source of the Nile, becoming ill, he returned home to Smyrna, and sought to cure himself by turning to the Egyptian god Serapis. Hoping to advance his career as an orator, late in 143 CE Aristides traveled to Rome and he also took pupils, the most famous being the sophist Damianus. In 165 CE, Aristides succumbed to the so-called Antonine Plague that ravaged the Roman Empire and he survived, but became less active and renewed his devotion to Asclepius. In 171 CE he set about writing the Sacred Tales to record the numerous omens and insights he had received from Asclepius in his dreams over a period of almost thirty years. His greatest career success came in 176 CE, when Marcus Aurelius visited Smyrna and Aristides delivered an oration that greatly impressed the emperor. ”A bronze statue of Aristides was set up in the marketplace of Smyrna, inscribed, “For his goodness and speeches. ”Aristides spent his last years in seclusion at his estates in Mysia. Living a generation after Aristides, the most famous physician of antiquity, Galen, wrote, “As to them whose souls are naturally strong and whose bodies are weak, one of them was Aristides… belonged to the most prominent rank of orators. Thus it happened to him, since he was active in teaching and speaking throughout his life, the first “Smyrnaean Oration, ” a sort of guided tour of the city for a visiting official, gives “the best description of ancient Smyrna which we possess. ”. For the proof of the impiety of those people is that they do not believe in the higher powers, and these men in a certain fashion have defected from the Greek race, or rather from all that is higher. The six books of Sacred Tales “are in a class apart, the complete works of Aristides were translated into English by Charles A. Behr and published in two volumes, in 1981 and 1986. Aelius Aristides and the Sacred Tales, Amsterdam, Hakkert, P. Aelius Aristides, The Complete Works, vol. P. Aelius Aristides, The Complete Works, vol, hornblower, Simon and Antony Spawforth, editors,1996. The Oxford Classical Companion, Third Edition, truly Beyond Wonders, Aelius Aristides and the Cult of Asklepios. Aristides, W. Dindorf, Lipsiae, libraria Weidmannia, G. Reimer,1829, aelii Aristidis Smyrnaei quae supersunt omnia, Bruno Keil, Berolini apud Weidnannos,1898, vol.1, vol

35.
Digest (Roman law)
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The Digest, also known as the Pandects, is a name given to a compendium or digest of Roman law compiled by order of the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I in the 6th century. It spans 50 volumes, and represented a reduction and codification of all Roman laws up to that time, the Digest was part of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the body of civil law issued under Justinian I. The other two parts were Institutes of Justinian, and the Codex Justinianus, a fourth part, the Novels, was added later. The original Codex Justinianus was promulgated in April of 529 by the C and this made it the only source of imperial law, and repealed all earlier codifications. However, it permitted reference to ancient jurists whose writings had been regarded as authoritative, under Theodosus IIs Law of Citations, the writings of Papinian, Paulus, Ulpian, Modestinus, and Gaius were made the primary juristic authorities who could be cited in court. Others cited by them also could be referred to, but their views had to be informed by a comparison of manuscripts, the principal surviving manuscript is the Littera Florentina of the late sixth or early seventh century. In the Middle Ages, the Digest was divided into three parts, and most of the manuscripts contain only one of these parts, the entire Digest was translated into English in 1985. The Digest was discovered in Amalfi in 1135, prompting a revival of learning of Roman law throughout Europe, other sources claim it was discovered in 1070 and formed a major impetus for the founding of the first university in Europe, the University of Bologna. Therefore, Justinian ordered these conflicts to be settled and fifty of these were published as the quinquaginta decisiones, soon after, he further decreed that the works of these ancient writers, which totalled over 1,500 books, be condensed into fifty books. These were to be entitled, in Latin, Digesta or, in Greek, in response to this order of December 15,530, Tribonian created a commission of sixteen members to do the work—one government official, four professors, and eleven advocates. The commission was given the power to condense and alter the texts in order to simplify, clarify, the Digests organization is complex, the fifty books, all contain several titles, divided into laws, and the laws into several parts or paragraphs. Research in the era has created a highly probable picture of how the commission carried out its task. Approximately two-fifths of the Digest consists of the writings of Ulpian, Corpus Juris Civilis Civil code Law of Citations Tony Honoré, Justinians Codification in The Oxford Classical Dictionary 803-804. Summa SP Scott, The Civil Law which contains the Digests 50 volumes, the start of the first book is here, scrolled down a third of the page Roman Law Resources, maintained by Prof Ernest Metzger. The Roman Law Library, Professor Yves Lassard and Alexandr Koptev, WW Buckland, A Text-Book of Roman Law from Augustus to Justinian though there were new editions by Peter Stein in 1963 and 1975

36.
Codex Justinianus
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The Codex Justinianus is one part of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the codification of Roman law ordered early in the 6th century AD by Justinian I, who was an Eastern Roman emperor in Constantinople. Two other units, the Digest and the Institutes, were created during his reign, the fourth part, the Novellae Constitutiones, was compiled unofficially after his death but is now thought of as part of the Corpus Juris Civilis. Shortly after Justinian became emperor in 527, he decided the empires legal system needed repair, there existed three codices of imperial laws and other individual laws, many of which conflicted or were out of date. The Codex Gregorianus and the Codex Hermogenianus were unofficial compilations, the Codex Theodosianus was an official compilation ordered by Theodosius II. The commission was headed by the prefect, John of Cappadocia and also included Tribonian. The commission finished its work in 14 months, and the compilation was promulgated in April 529 by the Constitutio Summa, the citation of the said constitutions of Our Code, with the opinions of the ancient interpreters of the law, will suffice for the disposal of all cases. Justinian attempted to harmonize these conflicting opinions by issuing his Fifty Decisions and this meant that his Code no longer reflected the latest imperial law. Thus, Justinian ordered a new compilation to supersede the first, no copies of the first edition of the Code have survived, only a fragment of an index of contents on an Egyptian papyrus remains. Known as the Codex Repetitae Praelectionis, this edition of the Code was published on November 16,534. The Codes structure is based on ancient classifications set out in the edictum perpetuum, in the West Justinians Codex was largely lost, or in many places never present, due to the limited western extent of the Eastern Roman Empires territories. The Latin version known today was restored over many centuries. The only known manuscript that contained the entire Latin Codex is a Veronese palimpsest of the 6th or 7th century. Within its home in the Eastern Roman Empire, the Code was translated into Greek, which had become the governing language and it appears as if the Latin Code was shortened in the Middle Ages into an Epitome Codex, with inscriptions being dropped and numerous other changes made. Substantially complete versions of Justinians Codex were restored around the end of the 12th century, paul Krüger created the modern, standard version of the Codex in 1877. No English translations were made of the Codex until the 20th century, in 1932 the English translation of the entire Corpus Juris Civilis by Samuel Parsons Scott was published posthumously. Reviewing Scotts work, the Roman law scholar W. W. Buckland wrote that Scott. had at his disposal an adequate latinity and has produced a written in an English which can be read with pleasure. But much more than that was needed, and the work cannot be said to satisfy these further requirements. Around the same time that Scott was active, Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Fred H. Blume was translating the Code and Novels, using the standard Mommsen, Krüger, Schoell and Kroll version

37.
Epigraphy
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Specifically excluded from epigraphy are the historical significance of an epigraph as a document and the artistic value of a literary composition. A person using the methods of epigraphy is called an epigrapher or epigraphist, for example, the Behistun inscription is an official document of the Achaemenid Empire engraved on native rock at a location in Iran. Epigraphists are responsible for reconstructing, translating, and dating the trilingual inscription and it is the work of historians, however, to determine and interpret the events recorded by the inscription as document. Often, epigraphy and history are competences practiced by the same person, an epigraph is any sort of text, from a single grapheme to a lengthy document. Epigraphy overlaps other competences such as numismatics or palaeography, when compared to books, most inscriptions are short. Typically the material is durable, but the durability might be an accident of circumstance, epigraphy is a primary tool of archaeology when dealing with literate cultures. The US Library of Congress classifies epigraphy as one of the sciences of history. Epigraphy also helps identify a forgery, epigraphic evidence formed part of the discussion concerning the James Ossuary, the study of ancient handwriting, usually in ink, is a separate field, palaeography. The character of the writing, the subject of epigraphy, is a quite separate from the nature of the text. Texts inscribed in stone are usually for public view and so they are different from the written texts of each culture. Not all inscribed texts are public, however, in Mycenaean Greece the deciphered texts of Linear B were revealed to be used for economic. Informal inscribed texts are graffiti in its original sense, the science of epigraphy has been developing steadily since the 16th century. Principles of epigraphy vary culture by culture, and the infant science in European hands concentrated on Latin inscriptions at first, individual contributions have been made by epigraphers such as Georg Fabricius, August Wilhelm Zumpt, Theodor Mommsen, Emil Hübner, Franz Cumont, Louis Robert. The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, begun by Mommsen and other scholars, has published in Berlin since 1863. It is the largest and most extensive collection of Latin inscriptions, New fascicles are still produced as the recovery of inscriptions continues. The Corpus is arranged geographically, all inscriptions from Rome are contained in volume 6 and this volume has the greatest number of inscriptions, volume 6, part 8, fascicle 3 was just recently published. Specialists depend on such on-going series of volumes in which newly discovered inscriptions are published, often in Latin, Greek epigraphy has unfolded in the hands of a different team, with different corpora. The first is Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum of which four volumes came out, again at Berlin and this marked a first attempt at a comprehensive publication of Greek inscriptions copied from all over the Greek-speaking world

38.
Numismatics
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Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. Early money used by people is referred to as Odd and Curious, the Kyrgyz people used horses as the principal currency unit and gave small change in lambskins, the lambskins may be suitable for numismatic study, but the horse is not. Many objects have been used for centuries, such as shells, precious metals, cocoa beans, large stones. Today, most transactions take place by a form of payment with either inherent, standardized, Numismatic value may be used to refer to the value in excess of the monetary value conferred by law, which is known as the collector value. Economic and historical studies of use and development are an integral part of the numismatists study of moneys physical embodiment. First attested in English 1829, the word comes from the adjective numismatic. It was borrowed in 1792 from French numismatiques, itself a derivation from Late Latin numismatis, genitive of numisma, throughout its history, money itself has been made to be a scarce good, although it does not have to be. Many materials have been used to form money, from naturally scarce precious metals and cowry shells through cigarettes to entirely artificial money, called fiat money, many complementary currencies use time as a unit of measure, using mutual credit accounting that keeps the balance of money intact. Modern money is essentially a token – an abstraction, paper currency is perhaps the most common type of physical money today. However, goods such as gold or silver retain many of the properties of money, such as volatility. However, these goods are not controlled by one single authority, coin collecting may have existed in ancient times. Caesar Augustus gave coins of every device, including old pieces of the kings, petrarch, who wrote in a letter that he was often approached by vinediggers with old coins asking him to buy or to identify the ruler, is credited as the first Renaissance collector. Petrarch presented a collection of Roman coins to Emperor Charles IV in 1355, the first book on coins was De Asse et Partibus by Guillaume Budé. During the early Renaissance ancient coins were collected by European royalty and nobility, Numismatics is called the Hobby of Kings, due to its most esteemed founders. Professional societies organized in the 19th century, the Royal Numismatic Society was founded in 1836 and immediately began publishing the journal that became the Numismatic Chronicle. The American Numismatic Society was founded in 1858 and began publishing the American Journal of Numismatics in 1866, in 1931 the British Academy launched the Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum publishing collections of Ancient Greek coinage. The first volume of Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles was published in 1958, after World War II in Germany a project, Fundmünzen der Antike was launched, to register every coin found within Germany. This idea found successors in many countries, in the United States, the US mint established a coin Cabinet in 1838 when chief coiner Adam Eckfeldt donated his personal collection

39.
Early life and career of Marcus Aurelius
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This article covers the life of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius from his birth on 26 April 121 to his accession on 7 March 161. Marcus life after his accession to the throne is covered in the article Emperorship of Marcus Aurelius, the major sources for the life and rule of Marcus Aurelius are patchy and frequently unreliable. For Marcus life and rule, the biographies of Hadrian, Pius, Marcus and Lucius Verus are largely reliable, a body of correspondence between Marcus tutor Fronto and various Antonine officials survives in a series of patchy manuscripts, covering the period from c.138 to 166. Marcus own Meditations offer a window on his life, but are largely undateable. The main narrative source for the period is Cassius Dio, a Greek senator from Bithynian Nicaea who wrote a history of Rome from its founding to 229 in eighty books. Dio is vital for the history of the period, but his senatorial prejudices. Inscriptions and coin finds supplement the literary sources, the gens Annia, to which Marcus belonged, had an undistinguished history. Their only famous member was Titus Annius Milo, a man known for hastening the end of the republic through his use of political violence. Marcus Aurelius family originated in Ucubi, a town southeast of Córdoba in Iberian Baetica. Cassius Dio asserts that the Annii were near-kin of Hadrian, the precise nature of these kinship ties is nowhere stated. One conjectural bond runs through Annius Verus, Verus wife Rupilia Faustina was the daughter of the consular senator Libo Rupilius Frugi and an unnamed mother. It has been hypothesized Rupilia Faustinas mother was Matidia, who was also the mother of Vibia Sabina, Verus elder son—Marcus Aurelius father—Marcus Annius Verus married Domitia Lucilla. Lucilla was the daughter of the patrician P. Calvisius Tullus Ruso, the elder Domitia Lucilla had inherited a great fortune from her maternal grandfather and her paternal grandfather by adoption. Lucilla and Verus had two children, a son, Marcus, born on 26 April 121, and Annia Cornificia Faustina, Verus probably died in 124, during his praetorship, when Marcus was only three years old. Though he can hardly have known him, Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations that he had learned modesty and manliness from his memories of his father, Lucilla, following prevailing aristocratic customs, probably did not spend much time with her son. Marcus was in the care of nurses, Marcus credits his mother with teaching him religious piety, simplicity in diet and how to avoid the ways of the rich. In his letters, Marcus makes frequent and affectionate reference to her, he was grateful that, although she was fated to die young, after his fathers death, Aurelius was adopted by his paternal grandfather Marcus Annius Verus. Another man, L. Catilius Severus, also participated in his upbringing, Severus is described as Marcus maternal great-grandfather, he is probably the stepfather of the elder Lucilla

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Hispania Baetica
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Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis, Baetica was part of Al-Andalus under the Moors in the 8th century and approximately corresponds to modern Andalucia. Baetica remained one of the divisions of Hispania under the Visigoths down to 711. Before Romanization, the area that was to become Baetica was occupied by several settled Iberian tribal groups. Celtic influence was not as strong as it was in the Celtiberian north, phoenician Gadira was on an island against the coast of Hispania Baetica. Other important Iberians were the Bastetani, who occupied the Almería, towards the southeast, Punic influence spread from the Carthaginian cities on the coast, New Carthage, Abdera and Malaca. Some of the Iberian cities retained their names in Baetica throughout the Roman era. Granada was called Eliberri, Illiberis and Illiber by the Romans, in Basque, iri-berri or ili-berri, the central and north-eastern Celtiberians soon followed suit. It took Cato the Elder, who became consul in 195 BC and was given the command of the peninsula to put down the rebellion in the northeast. He then marched southwards and put down a revolt by the Turdetani, Cato returned to Rome in 194, leaving two praetors in charge of the two Iberian provinces. In the late Roman Republic, Hispania remained divided like Gaul into a Nearer and a Farther province, as experienced marching overland from Gaul, Hispania Citerior, the battles in Hispania during the 1st century BC were largely confined to the north. In the reorganization of the Empire in 14 BC, when Hispania was remade into the three Imperial provinces, Baetica was governed by a proconsul who had formerly been a praetor. The Senatorial province of Baetica became so secure that no Roman legion was required to be stationed there. Legio VII Gemina was permanently stationed to the north, in Hispania Tarraconensis, so in spite of some social upsets, as when Septimius Severus put to death a number of leading Baetians— including women — the elite in Baetica remained a stable class for centuries. Columella, who wrote a twelve volume treatise on all aspects of Roman farming and knew viticulture, the vast olive plantations of Baetica shipped olive oil from the coastal ports by sea to supply Roman legions in Germania. Amphoras from Baetica have been found everywhere in the Western Roman empire and it was to keep Roman legions supplied by sea routes that the Empire needed to control the distant coasts of Lusitania and the northern Atlantic coast of Hispania. Baetia was Roman until the invasion of the Vandals and Alans passed through in the 5th century. The province formed part of the Exarchate of Africa and was joined to Mauretania Tingitana after Belisarius reconquest of Africa, the Catholic bishops of Baetica, solidly backed by their local population, were able to convert the Arian Visigoth king Reccared and his nobles

Aurelian (Latin: Lucius Domitius Aurelianus Augustus; 9 September 214 or 215 – September or October 275) was Roman …

Aurelian was a military commander, and during his reign he tried to keep legions' fidelity; this coin celebrated the CONCORDIA MILITVM, "concord of the soldiers" – in other words, "harmony between the emperor and the military".